tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47117798789857498172024-03-12T19:33:23.047-04:00The Dog HouseUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-46142773589469108042015-02-13T16:06:00.000-05:002015-04-12T17:18:03.638-04:00Why voting as an independent is the only way forward #indyvoteGood day all;<br />
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I have wiped the dust off this old blog because I felt like I needed a place to put down a screed as we move into our next election cycle.<br />
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I want to convey to my friends and colleagues my take on these issues. Please note that I am not willing to go into an endless debate on my point of view here. I have comments disabled on this blog. Further, since this will be linked from a FB entry, I probably won't entertain many disputations there either, and will likely delete the posting the moment it turns negative, as I am wont to do.<br />
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So, why is voting as an independent the only way forward? Well, it's like this. Neither of the two parties are deserving of your support. Both of them are extremely well funded, (despite their cries to the contrary) by folks who just simply put, could not care less about *you*.<br />
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It hasn't even begun, but we are already looking at what many are thinking is going to be a race between Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.<br />
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No, I'm not talking about a 3rd party, I'm talking about independents. Independent thinkers voting for independent, as in not subject to the sovereignty of the two party system, candidates.<br />
Candidates who have only one constituent, only one special interest. That being the american people.<br />
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Change your registration to independent, green, libertarian, *ANYTHING* but republican or democrat.<br />
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"Oh, but that means I can't vote in the primaries".<br />
That's true.<br />
However, primaries, esp in recent elections are often a reflection of an individual candidate's fund raising prowess, and not so much an appeal to the electorate. It's true that a candidate cannot win without votes, but for the most part, those votes are assured by the delegate process and the dedication of the electorate to the two party system. What the democrats or the republicans put forth as their best candidates will assuredly be most loyal to the system that put them there. That is not the american people.<br />
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We need our next president to have been elected by the american people, not by the republican or democratic parties. Another president elected by the two party systems means, more 'governmental oversight' of your personal life. Less autonomy and voter input into societal issues. The citizen will be further marginalized. Yes, just like in the past. Keep doing what you've always done, and you'll keep getting the same results.<br />
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Hillary R Clinton is not a liberal. This is a democrat who believes in fracking, who believes in endless wars, who is cool with cutting the for-profits into any public service, be that health care or prisons. She isn't merely a DNO, (Democrat in name only) but doesn't qualify as a 'lefty' at all. While I haven't heard her talk about privatizing social security, I consider that a 'yet'. She's a republican's dream.<br />
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However, even if she wasn't such a shill for these interests, even if she was pure of heart, a Ms Smith Goes to Washington type, it would hardly make any difference, because, ,well, she is a Democrat.<br />
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The Democratic National Convention is so shot through with special interests that it *cannot* represent the electorate. Even if it wanted to, it is financially joined at the hip to many other outfits with lots of agendas, many of which are at odds with the concepts of a free and democratic society. Our sitting president, Barack Obama, is considerably more progressive than Hillary Clinton, but even he is completely cool with assassinating American citizens on foreign soils. How many dispensaries were busted by his federal police after his speeches about no longer wasting the people's tax revenues on such things? Take a look at the budget he just signed. He gave all those folks in the DEA a raise for their work in the so-called War on Drugs, all the while doing very little on the education and rehabilitation side of things. The 'prison for profit' industries are doing quite well under his tenure. No, this is not the work of a progressive liberal. The list of sins against the people go on and on.<br />
Is the ACA a better deal for the people? Maybe, but it also took the only real deal off the table, the 'public option' that would have put us on the road to joining the rest of the industrialized democratic societies of the world, when it comes to humane treatment of the citizenry. No, I don't like the ACA, which for those of us with a mind for history is more accurately titled RomneyCare than ObamaCare. But the then-governor Romney was working with a state, not a country. He did a fine job as governor.<br />
Shame he lost his mind in pursuit of the RNC nomination really. But that's an aside. Obama's continued support for the DHS, the endless wars, and prepping right now to get us into yet still another shooting war doesn't speak well to his legacy as a progressive liberal.<br />
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Okay, on the Jeb side, or the Republican side. I know *plenty* of republicans who are thoughtful, well considered, honorable, decent and generous folks. I mean that. I've been deep inside that world. But, the power-brokers on that side are -and I mean this in the literal (old-school literal) sense- insane. There are folks who wield immense power on the republican side of the aisle who -if you take them at their word- believe that the world is only 5000 years old, and at the same time sit the boards of major fossil fuel outfits. Further, these are the kind of folks who will say with no sense of irony that not only is the world 5000 years old, but that God put that oil in the ground for us to use. These are the folks writing, or at least funding the writing of the papers that become our countries domestic energy policy. Setting aside a list and litany of sins that just goes on practically forever, this and this alone should be reason to stop and take a careful few moments to consider if these are really the people who should be setting the road map for the US in the 21st century. The answer is quickly arrived at. No. Further, there are folks on that side of things who pretty much -as is shown by their actions- feel that anyone who is worth at least ten million dollars is prima facie a 'good person' and anyone who doesn't have a measurable net worth is de-facto 'worthless' at least in part because God hath Ordained and therefore underwritten and blessed the former with their money, and the latter with their curse. Yes, there are folks who actually believe this, and act upon it. But let's just set aside the religion hot-potato for a moment, and look at the facts:<br />
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The party of 'small government' directly supports and is therefore supported by the 'prison industry' and just as aside, the very concept of private prisons is an anathema to a free society. Further, these are the same folks who seek to legislate such ethereal concepts as morality, the extremely private and personal aspects of life such as one's sexual inclinations. These are the folks who have mandated the surveillance society that we are becoming. They support and are supported by the increasingly militarized police state that we are becoming. Ex Parte Milligan, Posse Comitatus, and other such legal protections that some of us grew up under are increasingly difficult to identify in this new world. Every time it seems that something actually manages to make it up to the Supreme Court of the United States to affirm our rights under law as citizens as defined and enumerated in the Bill of Rights, it seems that we the people lose. And these folks who claim to favor individual freedoms and small government rise up in applause.<br />
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I don't know if you read "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime", but I did, and it was a real eye-opener. I recommend it before you start making choices concerning the character of the person you are willing to support for the office of chief executive of the US. This isn't about policy, it's about popularity and it's about power, and nothing else.<br />
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But what about their constituents?<br />
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Well, those of you who may have tea-party leanings, libertarian leanings and so forth are likely as upset about this as I am. By what quality does the republican party garner your support? Here, I'll answer for you. There is no such quality. They do not, and will not deserve your vote.<br />
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For those of you who may have socialist leanings, who may have progressive liberal leanings, no doubt you too are extremely upset by the power grabs of 'the government'. By what quality does the democrat party garner your support? Because they are not republicans? <i>That's Not Good Enough</i>.<br />
They <i>do not</i> deserve your support. Your fellow citizens do not deserve what the government is doing to them with the tacit support that you lend by voting for the mainstream.<br />
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It's Wake Up Time.<br />
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It is the third millennium. It is the twenty first century.<br />
I honestly no longer care what happened in the twentieth century, I don't care what happened in the second millennium. It's most certainly useful to study it, to learn it, to try to understand from whence we came in order to figure out what to do in the future, but the future is where things happen. Not in the past. <br />
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Folks start whining about 'communism', 'socialism', 'fascism' etc, don't listen to them. These are 19th and 20th century concepts that have no place in modern discourse. They are useful for study, absolutely, but that's not how they are used. They are used as sticks to whack folks with, usually without even a cursory understanding of the underlying concepts and principals. That folks are *still* arguing Adam Smith, who has been dead for over 200 years is preposterous. He's DEAD. Sir John Dalberg-Acton (power corrupts, absolute power, , blah blah) has been dead over a hundred years, He's DEAD. Stop listening to dead people, stop waving platitudes around, shouting slogans. Those things don't matter.<br />
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You matter, your vote matters.<br />
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Do Not Give Your Vote To People Who Have Not and Will Not Earn It.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Even if they wanted to</span></i>, no federal level elected official will act on your behalf unless of course, you were the one who bought and paid for them to be in office. Since nearly all of these folks were elected under the rubric of Republican or Democrat and they will do as their party instructs them because it wasn't YOU that elected them it was their party that elected them.<br />
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Change that.<br />
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This is the twenty first century. No one *should* require a party to support them to win a national election. Yes, I said that. Look at the websites of candidates, most are just online brochures. Most of these folks don't even know what twitter is, much less reddit. There is so much that can be done. Should be done. And ultimately must be done.<br />
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Yeah, I too once thought that you pick the best of a bad bunch, and do what you can. But that was in the days when we were still building libraries, not shutting them down. That was in the days when we had music and art as part of the grade school curriculum. We played outside during the school day, rode our bikes to school. We got our polio vaccinations at school. Those days are gone.<br />
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The days when the parties could be expected to do the bidding of the electorate are gone.<br />
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Okay, a side note.<br />
Folks are blaming all the ills of the world on the Koch Brothers. Personally, I don't see the boogy men that others do. I see a couple of seriously wealthy folks using their power, money and influence to re-draw the rules of the system to suit their ends. Look. They have about (according to the numbers I've been able to research) 7 billion in tar sands holdings. So, anything short of 7 billion expended in making that 'resource' realized is a win. So, when folks jump and down about how they are willing to spend a billion to influence upcoming elections, well, guess what? Duh! that's A Bargain!<br />
Of course they are. And why on earth wouldn't they? It's what they do. They take the money they have to make more money. That just makes sense.<br />
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If you don't like it, you take that to the polls. If you are voting for any main stream party candidate you are unlikely to get the results you wished.<br />
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There is noise that Senator Elizabeth Warren might throw her hat into the ring.<br />
Three is noise that Senator Bernie Sanders might throw his had into the ring.<br />
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Folks are saying silly stuff like<br />
"Oh, wouldn't that be nice, shame they can't win"<br />
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However they in fact, can win.<br />
They can win if the American people vote them in.<br />
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I heard it said years ago, reading some report from Davos on behalf of a lot of the big-money movers and shakers that "We have solved the problem of elections".<br />
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And I'd have to agree.<br />
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But the real problem is (and let me break it down):<br />
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1996: Clinton/Dole 49% voter turnout<br />
2000: Gore/Bush 50% voter turnout<br />
2004: Kerry/Bush 56% voter turnout<br />
2008: Obama/McCain 57% voter turnout<br />
2012: Obama/Romney 55% voter turnout<br />
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Gee, 57%? Wow, folks touted that as some kinda of great accomplishment.<br />
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It's not.<br />
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It's shameful<br />
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Most folks I know who have not voted in a national election have claimed that there is no one they are willing to vote for.<br />
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I *totally* get that.<br />
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Look, most of these 'recent' elections were actually pretty close in the big scheme of things, further, they only represented around half of the folks who bothered to turn out and hold their nose and pick to vote for, or more likely, vote against one candidate or the other. These numbers don't speak well of any particular mandate when one considers that most recent presidents were elected with less than 30% of the voting public's endorsement.<br />
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Okay, in closing, I feel the need to equivocate a bit and state that it is my strong and somewhat informed opinion that both parties are liberally seasoned with a lot of very hard working, dedicated, sincere people doing absolutely everything they are able trying very hard to do a good job for the people of the United States.<br />
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I also feel with some first hand affirmation that the DHS is also staffed with some people who really are trying to do the best job they can to protect and serve the people of the United States, and so on. I could go through a litany of various 'big government' outfits and say the same thing. There are a lot of dedicated people out there, doing a good job in spite of the constraints they face at the whims of elected officials who are essentially 'hired' not by the people, but by very wealthy special interests with non-democratic agendas.<br />
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We need to free these people to do the work that we the people need to get done. We need to free ourselves from this overwhelming special interest and see to our own governance. We do that by voting for the best candidate who will be bound and beholden to us, the American people. They are out there.<br />
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Many, very many people will say this is impossible, that it cannot be done. The rational behind this statement will basically boil down to "It cannot be done, because it has never been done before."<br />
Take a few to consider the logic behind that.<br />
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#indyvoteUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-42001429877906848182012-02-27T17:08:00.002-05:002012-02-27T17:12:27.628-05:00the first pint of maple syrup arrived.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-2gBmPHF/0/M/IMG1607-M.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-2gBmPHF/0/M/IMG1607-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Step 1, collect sap. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-jX6Qj8Q/0/M/IMG1615-M.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-jX6Qj8Q/0/M/IMG1615-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Step 2, boil sap<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-ZhTnHd6/0/M/IMG1616-M.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-ZhTnHd6/0/M/IMG1616-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Steps 3 through 88, boil sap<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-t66VgMq/0/M/IMG1619-M.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/ShingleTown/i-t66VgMq/0/M/IMG1619-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Fin!<br /><br />Just in time for me dear ole Mum's 21st birthday, (leap year baby). <br /><br />Happy Birthday Mom!<br /><br />--Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-81219240021109500482012-02-26T12:08:00.008-05:002012-02-26T13:23:02.233-05:00Doomer, Prepper, or just socially and personally responsible.So, that's a question. <br /><br />In these modern times, more and more of us are either becoming aware, or have been aware that 'these modern times' are moving in directions that make less and less sense. Lots of the folks we know, and for that matter, we ourselves more closely resemble what modern culture is trying to button-hole as 'Doomers', or is that 'Preppers', or maybe Hoarders? But is that really the case? Or is it more a case of trying to be personally and socially responsible? <br /><br />So, what is a doomer? What is a prepper? Is there any difference between doomers and preppers, or the old-school survivalist? <br /><br />I guess I encountered the term survivalist many decades ago. The term resonated with me, as it spoke to the old Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared". I grew up reading things like the classic text by Bradford Angier "<a href="http://ebookee.org/How-to-Stay-Alive-in-the-Woods-A-Complete-Guide-to-PDF-_900190.html">How to Stay Alive in the Woods</a>" and other such books. Having been born under Sputnik skies, and grown up under the threat of the mushroom cloud, the idea that 'all of this' is temporary and subject to a very quick end was ever present in my life, was then, is now. Later years the term survivalist became to mean someone who had read all of Kurt Saxon's work, and had lots of guns, huge amounts ammunition, and a hidey-hole deep in the wilderness, <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">heard of a van that is loaded with weapons<br />packed up and ready to roll<br />heard of some grave sites, out by the highway<br />place that nobody knows</span><br /><br /> --Life during Wartime<br /> Talking heads<br /><br />But after many years of pondering these things, it becomes pretty obvious, that the place that nobody knows doesn't actually exist. If you know about it, there's a pretty good chance so does somebody else. <br /><br />Some of the more prolific writers on the subject of survivalism, like John "Wesley" Rawles started from the idea of holing up in a compound with some well trained and reliable friends and family, and riding out the coming hard times with eternal vigilance and military discipline. From that pretty understandable starting point, they have moved on to the concept that getting through hard times is more a function of having a community that makes sense. While vigilance and security are important, and most assuredly do matter, being able to participate in a real society is also of very great importance. <br /><br />The Doomer. <br />A subset of survivalist, the doomer. Seems that doomers are folks who are 'peakists' or folks who believe that 'these modern times' are a product, put simply, of massive exploitation of a non-renewable resource, fossil fuels, that once a certain point of extraction is reached, must necessarily decline, and that decline will cause major problems. There is a great deal to this point of view. More on that later. <br /><br />The Prepper.<br />Another subject of survivalist, the prepper is a synonym for the doomer, and often the terms are used interchangeably. But this isn't exactly the case. The prepper is a person who feels that having a basement corner dedicated to cases of food, coffee, cigarettes, maybe gold and silver coins/bullion is the best way to thrive in the coming hard times. <br />Fair enough. Ask yourself how much you are paying for coffee, how much you paid for coffee a year ago, and then extrapolate that out to what you will be paying for coffee a year hence. Now consider what interest rate you are getting on the money you have in your checking account (since hardly anyone has a savings account anymore) and ask yourself does it make any sense whatsoever to leave any budgetary surplus in the bank? Or bank your supplies in your basement. There are lots of guides out there to preparing for the coming hard times, there are lots of guides out there on preparing to deal with an <a href="http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/evangelista108.html">ice storm</a>, or an earthquake, or all kinds of such things. A lot of 'regular folks' think this is all silliness, and that their government will be there to deal with any real problems. Well, what does their government say? Their government says, "Be Prepared". The <a href="http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d229a5f06620c6052b1ecfbf43181aa0/?vgnextoid=354c2aebdaadb110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD">American Red Cross </a>basically instructs folks to be ready to deal with 3 days with no support for bugging out, and 2 weeks of supplies for holing up at home. <a href="http://blog.fema.gov/2011/05/from-cdc-preparedness-101-zombie.html">FEMA doesn't disagree</a>. In short, the government thinks you need to be able to look out for you and your own. So, if you are sitting back thinking it's the government's job to take care of all this, and you personally don't need any preps, , well, to be blunt, no, you are wrong.<br /><br />So, doomers, suvivalists, preppers, blah blah blah. What does any of this matter? It doesn't really. What does matter is folks like to toss these terms at folks, some of whom are basically aware that they, and their government know that in the end, they need to take care of themselves, and their dear ones. There is only so much anyone else can do. And how else should it be? it's the personally and socially responsible position to be able to fend for one's family and one's self. This means, "Be Prepared".Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-24568250447102381582011-08-07T08:27:00.026-04:002011-08-10T07:39:56.966-04:00solar powered parking lot.A solar powered parking lot?
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-m84HQqr/0/X2/IMG1163-X2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-m84HQqr/0/M/IMG1163-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />Sure, why not?
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<br />My favorite place to pick on for many years, has been the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. It's such an easy target, I suppose I should quit doing it. Anyway, here we have a shiny (literally) brand new 'Park and Ride' commuter parking lot. Out along Old Route 7 between Hamilton, Va. and Paeonian Springs, Va. (Paeonian, not Pierian, if there is a Pierian Spring anywhere near DC, no one has ever found it). A year ago, this was a fallow pasture. Does anyone want to get into a discussion about the relative value of locally produced pastured cattle or dairy versus yet still another parking lot? Seriously? Okay then, that's for another time. If there is to be a yet still another parking lot, then at least one could do some things right, (or rather, less wrong) and some things wrong. In this case, they -given the available options- did a lot of things right. I'm gonna focus on those. I won't be able to help myself though, I'm gonna pick on it, because I really don't like parking lots.
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<br /><a com="" other="" stuff="" xrglbxp="" 0="" x2="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-XRgLBxP/0/M/IMG1169-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />The Parking Lot.
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<br />There is no one here, just me, and yet the lights are still on. They are LED lights, but I don't get why they are on if no one is around. LEDs come up pretty fast, I'd think they could run them at half or quarter load with motion or IR sensors or something to bring them up when needed. But hey, at least they did this instead of that horrible mercury oxide lighting that has killed the night for so much of the US.
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<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >Update: I rolled by this place in the wee hours this AM, and the lights were off. So I guess they are timed. So, not as grim as I thought. Cool.</span>
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-dbGbRWm/0/M/IMG1185-M.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-dbGbRWm/0/M/IMG1185-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />One of the lighting modules. (pic is kinda fuzzy, so no large image is available).
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<br />I was there in the deep of night, but the images didn't really show much, so I waited until early pre-dawn to take these so you could get a sense of what it's like.
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<br />This is a park and ride parking lot. This is in a declining rural area. Very little of the land that was once being farmed is still being farmed. The development pressure is still on in the greater Washington DC area. Those of you who live in the rest of the US might think that economy has stalled and is contracting. But you'd never know it in the area around Washington DC. That all by itself tells you a lot of what you need to know if you still think politics can fix things. Anyway, in order to help mitigate some of the effects of ever upwards spiraling growth, this region is doing some things to encourage more mass transit/public transportation to try to alleviate the ever worsening traffic congestion in this completely car commuter dependent region.
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<br /><a com="" other="" stuff="" 5kwdz5v="" 0="" x2="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-5KWDz5v/0/M/IMG1166-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />Wait'n On The Bus.
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<br />This seems like a good idea, get folks to drive here, park, and hop on the bus, taking all those cars (SUV's and Pickup's actually) out of competition for queuing up at red lights. However, every SUV driver you turn into a rider, creates a gap, which is always filled. It's the nature of traffic. You can read all about this very well studied phenomena elsewhere <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:IgVRzWRFy3wJ:individual.utoronto.ca/gilles/Papers/Law.pdf+The+Fundamental+Law+of+Road+Congestion:+Evidence+from+U.S.+Cities&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi2gHkAHfLip6jFo5JFwy2xtMjWBDylZo12jdJQ7B-oX6HcbcIj_U_kO8bxVFbY304wpzHYxt8O32Yo8D9QFsgmLGG4nOfQx_t4BcKrL47d1PBpgcS6B7bJRWloL0EWMjbREhE8&sig=AHIEtbQCgtBkpFcJ6Z4sl6QoNjCSBAT2Zg&pli=1">The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion</a>, but that doesn't mean that offering alternatives is a waste of time, it's not. it's incredibly important. If folks want to opt-out, they must have alternatives.
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-PMRWjcV/0/X2/IMG1167-X2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-PMRWjcV/0/M/IMG1167-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />I think there's an aspect here, this is a pretty cool place. Of course, it's new, it's clean, it's not broken yet, and seems like a good space. I expect it's pretty peaceful in the AM, and these shelters appear perfectly adequate. And, they don't use much energy.
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-C8b36JH/0/X3/IMG1191-X3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 576px; height: 768px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-C8b36JH/0/XL/IMG1191-XL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />Handicap Parking Done Right!
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<br />Look at that! The handicap parking area is right where it should be. Right next to the target service. Not across a traffic lane, like in nearly all parking lots built in the last 30 years. And! (this is a big and) No Ramp. Look, there is no curb, so you don't need a ramp. I personally despise curbs, they are a cheap and nasty way handle things. and they exist where there is no need. Here, no curb is needed, so no curb is built. Good design.
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<br />But what's that down at the end?
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-psztddP/0/L/IMG1187-L.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 600px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-psztddP/0/L/IMG1187-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />A ChargePoint Electric Vehicle Charging Station.
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<br />Actually, this facility has a few of these:
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-DpNcDV8/0/X2/IMG1168-X2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-DpNcDV8/0/M/IMG1168-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />Pretty neat, eh?
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<br />Let's see, what else?
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<br />Well,
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-cfgdLf5/0/M/IMG1188-M.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-cfgdLf5/0/M/IMG1188-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />You could be forgiven for thinking this was a generator housing or some other box belonging to the utility or something. But no, It's a bicycle box. A nice weatherproof shelter for storing a bicycle.
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-3J5JS8D/0/M/IMG1189-M.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-3J5JS8D/0/M/IMG1189-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />And this is the bike rack. Now, I know it looks like something to keep cars from running into that transformer/generator/utility box, but no, it's a bike rack. and that's not a utility box.
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<br />Now, this whole parking lot can be approached from the east, or from the west, on a narrow, no shoulder country road. how are the bicycles and pedestrians supposed to get here in the first place. The main bicycling corridor, the WO&D rail trail is on the OTHER side of the divided 4 lane that is the boundary to the back of this property. There is no way to get here from there, without a few miles of sprinting down a sketchy road.
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<br />So, there are 24 of these assemblies, each with 2 what I'm guesstimating as being 240 watt PV panels, a pair of Enphase grid tie power inverters, and 1 or 2 of those street lights.
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-NnznJGT/0/M/IMG1186-M.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-NnznJGT/0/M/IMG1186-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />So, that's 11.5KW of solar power. The latitude of the site according to my GPS is 37 plus. Let's call it 40 for quick and dirty numbers. According to my hand held inclinometer, the panels are pitched at 50 degrees. So, that's lat +10 or so. According to the NREL redbook numbers, this system should output about 13.5MWH (thousand kilowatt hours)per year, not too shabby! however, *if* the array was tilted at 40 degrees (tilt=lat, pretty common) that would go up to 14.4MWH, pretty significant.
<br />Strange.
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<br />Okay, so this is all actually pretty cool, in a geeky sort of way. The kind of thing I should just love, right?
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<br />Well, sadly, I'm sorry to report, no.
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<br />What's wrong with it? Well, it's A Parking Lot. Yet Still Another Parking Lot. I don't like parking lots.
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<br />It's another asphalt slab. It'll be sanded/salted in the winter, it creates another heat island, it's impervious to water, so the water will run off, (is running off) creating the need for yet still another mosquito pit:
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<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-V9STVq5/0/XL/740110807a-XL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1024px; height: 188px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/solar-stuff/i-V9STVq5/0/XL/740110807a-XL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />Of course, the landscaping isn't complete, so some erosion is to be expected. But I imagine this will be another exercise in futility. They'll get a handle on it, then a big (no one expected) weather event will cut a channel, then it will be remediated, then a channel, and so on.
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<br />So, anyway, in summary;
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<br />The folks in northern Va/Loudoun County have invested in an interesting experiment. I'm hoping that this is studied and mimicked and lessons are learned. So, good on'em for going this route. I just really hope next time someone decides; "Oh! I've got an idea, let's build a parking lot to overcome the need for more car infrastructure" that someone will point out that accommodating more cars just accommodates more cars. I think converting farm land into asphalt is a great big step in the wrong direction, and will ultimately have to be reversed.
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<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the living tissue of the city. Its appetite for space is absolutely insatiable; moving and parked, it devours urban land, leaving the buildings as mere islands of habitable space in a sea of dangerous and ugly traffic. </span> ~James Marston Fitch, New York Times, 1 May 1960
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<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-8444964420897592922011-02-14T09:08:00.009-05:002011-02-14T09:20:56.589-05:00You Big Dummy!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Bicycles/Big-Dummy/IMG0978/1186087621_Jo2Gh-X2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Bicycles/Big-Dummy/IMG0978/1186087621_Jo2Gh-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />haven't blogged anything in a while, and this is about the only change. <br /><br />My new pickup truck. <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Bicycles/Big-Dummy/IMG0977/1186088281_3qBWa-X2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Bicycles/Big-Dummy/IMG0977/1186088281_3qBWa-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Comments:<br />Doesn't "Go thru the Sno" like Pugsley, fell off it twice in the first 20 minutes<br />in the saddle. <br /><br />makes going to the laundry a hoot!<br /><br />Another fun toy from <a href="http://www.blackwaterbikes.com">Blackwater Bikes</a>, in Davis WV.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-68190154853579673142010-09-27T10:16:00.030-04:002010-09-28T07:46:33.501-04:00Mother Earth News Sustainable Living Fair<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1025779481_9muPQ-X3-LB"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 800px; height: 190px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/motherearthnewspanoram1/1025779481_9muPQ-M.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Comments<br />Cliches<br />Commentary<br />Controversy</span><br /><br />We attended the much anticipated Mother Earth News Sustainability Fair over the weekend. And my, what a long strange trip it was<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Chatter<br />Chit-chat<br />Chit-chat<br />Chit-chat<br /><br />Conversation<br />Contradiction<br />Criticism</span><br /><br />The good folks at Mother Earth News apparently had no earthly idea what a hot product they had in their hands.<br /><br />We had the good fortune of my procrastination. Since I dawdled about setting up reserved rooms at the <a href="http://www.7springs.com/">Seven Springs Ski and Conference Resort</a>, we had to call around and find a room elsewhere. We lucked into the <a href="http://www.rockwoodtrailhouse.com/">Rockwood Trailhouse BnB</a>, about 20 mins away in nearby Rockwood, Pa.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1024297078_M7Ltj-X2-LB"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 315px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/IMG0792/1024297078_M7Ltj-M.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> We passed this way before, on our little jaunt down the <a href="http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2x6gapco">Great Allegheny Passage</a> last fall. What a great spot. One of the best places we've ever had the pleasure of staying.<br /><br />But that's beside the point. <br /><br />So, we rolled in late friday eve, having dined at the local diner, and found our rooms and fell off to a good restful sleep after driving back roads all day. We slept to the gentle sounds of freight and coal trains blaring their signals all night long. Personally, road traffic bothers me a lot, and train noises, not at all. <br /><br />Anyway, so up to a fine breakfast, served proper boarding house style, all 10 guests around the table piled high with tasty breakfasty goodies, and then off to Seven Springs for the first day. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">It's only talk<br />Cheap talk </span><br /> --Elephant Talk, King Crimson<br /><br />We arrived at the resort, commenting on the huge turnout, as we were early, and the parking lots were looking pretty full. We had no trouble finding a spot some distance from the entrance. Then we toddled on down to the entrance booth, as we already had our tickets, we didn't have to deal with the horrors of will call or purchase. The Mothereartinista at the gate hurriedly took our proferred tickets while another Mothereartinista attached our wrist bands. Apparently we were not to be trusted to do it ourselves, Minor irritation #1. Nice and friendly though. Next up, the event programs. <br /><br />We tried to eddy out of the mass of moving people to review the program, and to learn the map. We inadvertently backed into a Motherearthinista stronghold and were shown out nicely and immediately. Minor irritation #2. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1024297236_54ak9-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 315px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/IMG0802/1024297236_54ak9-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Up and down the stairs, out to the exterior exhibits (shown above) we tried to match the maps to the facility and just couldn't do it. I've been interested in cartography my whole life, and well, this wasn't how you run a railroad. Minor irritation #3. <br /><br />Anyway, we finally figured out where the session rooms were, and with 20 minutes or so before the sessions actually began, we managed to head off to our respective sessions of choice. <br />My pick? A session on solar energy, For-Get-It! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1024292152_hjYNK-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 338px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/IMG0781/1024292152_hjYNK-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I couldn't even get near the doors, it was so packed. 20 mins before it was supposed to start, there were folks stuffed into the doors, the floor space already completely taken, and of course, all the seats. So, I bailed quickly, and found something else. Which was fun. Minor irritation #4, becoming sorta major. <br /><br />My consolation prize session of "Peak Oil Prep and Making the Shift to Sustainability" was pretty good. It was rushed at 45 minutes, though the presenter Matthew Stein was hawking his book, and therefor at a book signing, I was able to engage in some information chit chat and discussion. Yes, I bought his book. The conference book store was just crazy busy. It was nuts. Minor irritation #5. (Caveat, the good Mr Stein insisted that he wasn't there to sell his book, but that was cool if you wanted to buy one). <br /><br />By lunch we both decided that the good folks at Mother Earth News might not have anticipated the demand for their offered knowledge products correctly. <br /><br />We both simply gave up on the sessions, attending a few keynotes and some hands-on stuff, but mostly spent the rest of the day interacting with some of the vendors. <br /><br />Just like the pages of the magazine that we have all perused all these many decades, the vendors were the right mix of solid competent purveyors of proven ingeniously designed problem-solving devices, whacky mad-scientist inventors, and out and out hucksters selling a free lunch for a stiff price. The earnest, the cults, the practical, and the fun were all very well represented.<br /><br />We encountered numerous fellow <a href="http://www.pasafarming.org">PASA</a> members, as one might have expected. We were joined by another couple of very good friends of very many years, who were just experiencing this sort of craziness for the first time, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1024293502_QXphC-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 315px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/IMG0783/1024293502_QXphC-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />and were quite disappointed that most of the workshops and sessions were just simply unavailable due to the massive over-selling of the event.<br /><br />We spent the rest of the day visiting with various friends we encountered and talking to vendors and among ourselves. We unfortunately missed the beginning of the keynote by Perry Jones, director of Heifer Project International "Food System Revolution: Efforts to Promote a More Locally Controlled and Sustainable Food System" which was brilliant. I cannot say enough about <a href="http://www.heifer.org/">Heifer Project International</a>, they are wonderful folks doing superb work, so I won't try.<br /><br />First day closing keynote was by Amanda Little on "The Story of America’s Love <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1024291892_apBLp-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 315px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/IMG0777/1024291892_apBLp-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Affair With Energy" captioned as "Little will describe how American ingenuity got us into this mess, and how American ingenuity will get us out of it." Setting aside my personal take on the matter, I though it was an intriquing thesis, and it was the closing keynote, so I thought it was worth a go. I'm sorry to say that Ms Little's speaking presentation was, err, well I genuinely dislike saying things like this, but it just wasn't any good. On the upside, I figured that maybe her writing is much better, so I did buy her book, <a href="http://www.amandalittle.com/">"Power Trip"</a> and haven't finished it yet, but I can report it's been pretty fun so far. She has done her homework. So ended the first day. Keynotes were hit and miss, honestly. But, well, it's Mother Earth News, right? So, it's par. <br />We dined with our friends who were staying at the resort as guests, wished another friend of ours who hadn't been able to nail down any rooming options and was sleeping in her car, (after going to Cumberland to see Donna and the Buffalo) good night, and then after all, headed back to Rockwood for another night slumbering to the dulcet tones of slamming freight cars and train whistles.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1024295545_sCdDM-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 315px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/IMG0790/1024295545_sCdDM-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <br />Up the next morning, packed and loaded the car, another wonderful proper breakfast with 4 other couples of sausage, pancakes, scrambled eggs, OJ, coffee, tea, peaches, and so on until you'd pop if you weren't careful, a quick chat with our innkeepers and we were off to Seven Springs for Day Two. <br /><br />Driving in, expecting more of the same, my were we disappointed, much much more of the same. We arrived at the same time as yesterday, but the parking lot was already filled to spilling over, and we were diverted to some of the satellite parking, which was filling fast. We kinda rushed<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"A href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/13944250_R5rpH#1024290631_QHe6Z-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 315px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Events/Mother-Earth-News/IMG0775/1024290631_QHe6Z-M.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> into the morning keynote given by Richard Schrader on "How We Can Win after Climate Change Defeat" which was mildly interesting to us, and we did learn a few things, but the sessions were again completely out of control. She went off to have further conversations with the good folks at <a href="http://greenherontools.com/">Green Heron Tools</a>. I sought out our visiting friends and we sat about and chatted for a while. Turns out they had enjoyed a nice sit down in one of the many nooks and crannies and had a chat with one of the conference directors. Yes, it was as we expected, they really were blindsided with the attendance. They (Mother Earth News) had never done anything like this at this scale before and were quite literally overwhelmed. Well, lesson learned.<br /><br />The morning passed quickly, and it was to our dismay that we just couldn't wait on the closing keynote which we all wanted to attend, just too many miles to cover, so we kinda wrapped up and made our goodbyes after a siege like assault on the tee-shirt/bumper-sticker booth, which was pretty exhausting. <br /><br />In summary, we did in fact have a great time, and are in fact grateful to Mother Earth News for pulling this together. Yeah, it was messed up in a lot of ways, and it was frantic and crazy. But hey, it's Mother Earth News, really, what exactly did you expect? I certainly got my money's worth even without being able to attend the sessions for which I had hoped (and planned). But that's okay, we were kinda, and I admit sheepishly, among our own kind for a couple of days, and man, was that worth the price of admission right there. So, thanks, and better luck on the next one.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-9564058062260099842010-09-03T15:19:00.002-04:002010-09-03T15:41:28.515-04:00The Tenents of Basic Foundational ForestryBasic Premises of Forestry In North America in the 20th Century<br /><br />By Bill Doer.<br /><br />1) The Doctrine of Timber Primacy:<br /><br />Timber is the chief product of the forest. All else that comes from the forest is by product. Of secondary interest; Water, Forage, Wildlife, and the rest, including recreation. Indeed, people are a nuisance in the forest.<br /><br />Wood is and always will be a necessity for it has no true substitutes. Its consumption is assured. Its consumers may be taken for granted.<br /><br />In fact, there is going to be a shortage of timber.<br />The central problem in forest management is the biological and engineering problem of growing more timber.<br /><br />2) The Doctrine of Sustained Yield.<br /><br />To fulfill societies obligations to it's descendants, and to stabilize communities, each generation should sustain it's resources at a high level and hand them along undiminished.<br /><br />The sustained yield of timber is an aspect of man's most fundamental need: To sustain life itself.<br /><br />3) The Doctrine of the Long Run.<br /><br />Nature moves and changes slowly. She takes a long time to accomplish such purpose as the growing of timber. Society must adapt itself to this fact. Be patient. Curb selfish short-sighted interests. Such as those of private enterprise, and notably small enterprise.<br /><br />Look to the past. The future will be like the past. Indeed, should be like the past.<br /><br />4) The Doctrine of Absolute Standards.<br /><br />The forest is a living thing with own ends and its means for attaining them under natural law.<br /><br />The successful manager, regardless of his location or ownership, finds his goals and guides in the forest itself, by looking there and by listening to what the forest tells him.<br />People are not to be trusted in such matters.<br /><br />Thus the manager plants those kinds of trees best suited to the site, carries the stock of growing timber that nature has shown she is capable of carrying. He aims to produce wood of high quality and maximum quantity. And this again is the aim of the forest.<br />Needless to say, idle land is a cost to society.<br /><br />From Doer's 1979 textbook on Forest Management.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-2698587183368280532010-07-20T14:46:00.009-04:002010-07-21T09:49:32.549-04:00Cars I have owned.Just a list of cars I have owned in my life.<br /><br />Please know, It's rare that any of these were less than 10 years<br />old when I bought them, and very rare that I paid $1000 or more.<br /><br />I have a hard time remembering all of them, so I thought I'd put together<br />a list. It's a sickness that I inherited from my father, and he blamed his<br />father, so fair's fair.<br /><br /><ol><li>1964 VW Bug</li><li>1963 Porsche 356c coupe<br /></li><li>1966 VW Karmann Ghia roadster<br /></li><li>1964 VW Bug</li><li>1968 Fiat 124 Abarth spyder<br /></li><li>1969 Chevy Van (panel van)</li><li>1961 GMC 4000 flatbed</li><li>1966 Fiat Dino Spyder</li><li>1966 Fiat 128 Coupe</li><li>1975 VW Rabbit coupe (2-door)<br /></li><li>1963 Mercedes 190D (110)<br /></li><li>1964 MGB</li><li>1963 Triumph TR3</li><li>1965 Triumph Spitfire Mk.2</li><li>1972 Plymouth Duster 2-dr (three on the tree)</li><li>1967 Pontiac of some kind, can't recall<br /></li><li>1970 Volvo 164</li><li>197-something Volvo 145</li><li>1978 Volvo 245<br /></li><li>1963 Austin America (Morris 1100)</li><li>1962 Austin Mini</li><li>1973 Austin Marina<br /></li><li>1966 Porsche 912</li><li>1964 VW bus</li><li>1977 VW Rabbit diesel</li><li>1977 VW Rabbit Caddy pickup</li><li>1975 VW Scirocco (my favorite car ever)</li><li>1976-or-so Audi Fox Wagon (audi 80)<br /></li><li>1972 VW Bus</li><li>1972 Ford Taunus (not a typo)<br /></li><li>1976 Matra-Simca Bagheera</li><li>1970 Alfa Romeo Giulia (rust bucket)<br /></li><li>1971 Mercedes Benz 260CE (really liked this car)</li><li>1977 VW Scirocco<br /></li><li>1984 Audi 5000s Wagon</li><li>1968 Ford F100 pickup<br /></li><li>1989 VW Golf GTI 16v (only new car I ever bought)</li><li>1984 VW GTI</li><li>1983 VW Jetta<br /></li><li>1985 Suzuki SJ413/Samurai (Probably the best car I ever owned)</li><li>1990 Isuzu Trooper</li><li>1984 VW GTI</li><li>1984 VW GTI (yes, I know, I know)</li><li>1983 Ford Econoline 150</li><li>1964 Toyota FJ45 Landcruiser Flatbed</li><li>1999 Subaru Legacy Outback</li><li>1973 Saab Sonett-III</li><li>1985 Ford F150 4x4</li><li>1985 Ford F250 diesel flatbed</li><li>1986 Ford F250 diesel 4x4</li><li>2004 Toyota Prius</li></ol>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-88534491664195948492010-07-05T12:50:00.009-04:002010-07-06T06:36:21.083-04:00Get out your tin hat, and put it on. (shiny side out!)Well, <br /><br />This is just fun I think. <br /><br />Being a big fan of pretty much anything solar powered, I spotted this fellow on the side of the road and had to come back and examine it more closely. <br /><br />(click on pics for bigger pics)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0711/921748493_LzRjk-X2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 600px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0711/921748493_LzRjk-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Pretty cool. <br />No, I won't go into where, No reason. But first things first, what the heck is it? <br /><br />Well, the gizmo up on top of the tower:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0712/921748522_XoAJJ-X3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0712/921748522_XoAJJ-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Looks like a camera to me. Looks like a very nice camera at that. <br /><br />This thingee is sitting on the corner of a couple of low traffic roads. A prototype maybe. <br />Traffic surveys? Traffic Surveillance maybe? Who knows? <br /><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/3612154_tVZhi#921748564_3okvY-X2-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0714/921748564_3okvY-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />So, , , Nice trailer, fresh and shiny new. Four 110 watt solar panels. 2 battery boxes, each holding good sized batteries. 1 tool chest, all secured properly secured with padlocks. And 1 -what appears to be an- electronics cabinet (the large-ish black diamond plate box) secured with an electronic cypher lock. <br /><br />But I suppose what I found most striking was the lack of a license plate. Not only that, but the lack of a place to even mount a license plate. Close examination of the entire assembly showed no serial numbers, no manifest plate (except of course, the trailer manufacturers serial number plate). There was no name, no contact information to be found anywhere. Which I found pretty disappointing. I wanted to know more about it. I did wave at the camera. "We're friendly!". <br /><br />I'm of the look but don't touch school of the creeping curious type. It would be a big mistake I expect to tamper with such a device, or even worse, attempt to steal it. I expect it knows how to call home, further;<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0715/921748598_Re7w8-X2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0715/921748598_Re7w8-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />That looks a whole lot like one of them Millenium GPS Autotracker gizmos, and so I expect not only does this thing know how to call home, it also knows how to tell Mom where it is, where it's been and all that. <br /><br />Folks talk a lot about 'the machines becoming self-aware. Well, it's been my position that self-awareness is relative. Machines -these days- exhibit all kinds of various levels of self-awareness. <br /><br />Solar powered autonomous remote sensing stuff fascinates me. One of my more favorite pipe dream time wasters. I think this gizmo is an excellent example. <br /><br />Pretty cool. <br /><br />I should have had my tinhat on when i took these pics though. No doubt it has RF mind-control capacity as well. <br /><br />Thoughts?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-70923204821246079242010-06-06T13:02:00.051-04:002011-10-04T07:26:26.441-04:00Looking Back, Looking Forward revisited<span style="font-size:85%;">Quick note: I've fiddled with the formatting of the template, because I just wasn't happy with how my pics were laying out. So, older stuff is going to look kinda awkward. But hopefully, this will work out better in the future. </span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><br />A few, a very few, may recall my blog entry <a href="http://cubic-dog.blogspot.com/2008/10/looking-forward-looking-back.html">Looking Forward, Looking Back</a>, from a while back. I've had some time to mull this over for a while. Further, on IRC a couple of weeks back, there was a quick conversation concerning Wind Power with some quick off-the-cuff comments in the pro/con vein, and I was asked, "How can anyone be against wind power?". Well, it's complicated.<br /><br />I want to try to examine this question, and at least scratch at the surface of some of implications of this technology, and shine some light on what that entails, as well as to condense some of my own ill formed thoughts on the matter.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">As always, with most of my blogs, the images are clickable for a better view<span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />So, on a personal note, I'm still looking forward, and I'm still looking back. The backdrop has changed a bit, More miles on the one, while the other has been upgraded/downgraded to yet another multi-hand car with over 100K on it. (my new minimum standard for used cars, it must be well past it's life as a proper suburban understands it), and it gets >2x the mileage of the dear old Subaru, but and is about 1/2 the 'car'. I have a lot more miles on the trike, but not nearly as many as I had hoped by the time.<br /><br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0708/897554796_D8ijX-XL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0708/897554796_D8ijX-S.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Looking Forward<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0707/897554474_L5GAg-XL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0707/897554474_L5GAg-S.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Looking Back<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But the paradigms do not hold. Here, right now, in this time, today, the realities of the BP oil spill in the Gulf are all too real for a few, On the mind of a few more, and many more are at least aware, and I know quite well, that in the minds of a great many, it's no big deal.<br /><br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0700/891012668_r4yyB-M.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0700/891012668_r4yyB-M.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />If you look <span style="font-style: italic;">really </span>closely, you can see a, single, car.<br /><br />So, what has this to do with wind power?<br /><br />Well, a lot actually.<br />It's a mistake, generally, to think things <span style="font-style: italic;">are</span>, they way one thinks they are. Folks seem to think, that energy in general, electrical energy in particular, is cheap, abundant, and easy to acquire. There is little empirical and practically no theoretical evidence to support this common (in this country) thought. Same is true of oil. Because of this thought, or widely held belief, folks waste it. Just plain waste it. To wit:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/49261main_usa_nightm.jpe" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 720px; height: 486px;" src="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/49261main_usa_nightm.jpe" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Folks use a great deal of electrical power. Whether they mean to, or not, they do. If you believe the DOE, for the year 2009, 3,953,111 <span style="font-style: italic;">thousand megawatt hours</span>. In simple terms, a 100 watt light bulb burning for 10 hours uses a kilowatt hour. One thousand kilowatt hours ia a megawatt hour. So, that's three million, nine hundred and fifty three thousand, one hundred and eleven - thousand megawatt hours.<br /><br />Anyway, there's some noise around those numbers, generation vs use and all that. Oddly enough, when you start digging, you find out that some of the energy generated, is used, and not tracked. Large power plants, for instance, don't have power meters. They make the power, they also use a lot of power, and the power they use, isn't tracked in these numbers. Coal extraction uses a lot of power, and a lot of that power, isn't tracked in these numbers, and the real numbers surrounding nuclear power aren't all that easy to track down. It's remarkably difficult to actually determine what it costs to generate nuclear power. I've read numbers that -in big round numbers- put it in the $0.50/kwh range, , to generate. The nationwide average 'consumer price' is $0.15/kwh. Coal is a little easier, the price of coal by the ton is tracked on the futures market, and a pound of coal, in big round numbers can generate a kilowatt hour of electrical energy. yeah, that's right. One pound of coal, one kilowatt hour. See why it's so popular? Handy stuff coal.<br />Why 'we the people' are so determined to turn this: (looking back)<br /><a href="http://earth.google.com/intl/en_uk/outreach/images/case_study/appvoices_fig2a.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 325px;" src="http://earth.google.com/intl/en_uk/outreach/images/case_study/appvoices_fig2a.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://earth.google.com/intl/en_uk/outreach/images/case_study/appvoices_fig2b_lg.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 325px;" src="http://earth.google.com/intl/en_uk/outreach/images/case_study/appvoices_fig2b_lg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Into This: (Looking Forward)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So, No one (who is not on the board of large energy companies who are getting staggeringly wealthy practicing mountaintop removal) wants this for their world. Mountaintop removal is really outside the scope of this post, but it's quite a problem.<br /><br />Surely there must be alternatives. Wind turbines such as these, can actually generate 2megawatts per hour when the 'wind is blowing'. Now, that's 2000kwh, or the same energy as a ton of coal. <a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0702/891012122_oqGCN-M.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0702/891012122_oqGCN-M.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />So, these three, while the wind blows, could be generating the equivalent energy of three TONS of coal per hour. Wow. That's a win, eh? There are hundreds of these turbines in this windfarm, that's directly adjacent the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Storm_Power_Station">Mount Storm Power Station</a>.<br /><br />Well, sadly, it's not quite that simple. Among the issues involved in this are:<br /><br />None of this power is used locally. This windfarm supplies 'the mid atlantic grid'. Well, what that means isn't exactly clear. For our purposes here, I won't call it outright disingenuous. For one thing, it's not yet actually connected to the 'mid-atlantic grid' as such. A shiny brand spanking new leg of the '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid">Smart Grid</a>' is being built in it's honor.<br /><br />Birds and bats, yes, it's a real issue, it's not not a real issue. Migratory song birds are one thing, migratory raptors are another thing. Bats, still a different thing. But the big thing, The forests and ridges of WV are home to the greatest biodiversity outside of amazon basin, and according to some, even broader. Folks who opposed this project were called NIMBYs. But who are the real NIMBYs? West Virginia isn't using this power, the turbines weren't manufactured here. The folks who installed them aren't from here, and aside from a few landowners, who benefits? Well, folks who live far far far away. Sure, for a while, the local restaurants and room rentals were doing pretty well. The additional loads to the roadways was born by the WV taxpayer, the destruction of habitat will be born by all the life of the region. The invasive plants that are taking over the forests floors all along the ridge, and along the right of ways benefit, but the natives don't. Who is the NIMBY indeed.<br /><br />Well, let's look:<br /><br />PATH and TrAIL.<br /><br />Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line. a 500KV power line coming out of western PA, and headed right through this beautiful area, past the mount storm power generation, and headed down into Northern Virginia. Ah yes, Northern Virginia. The PSC pretty much sided with the supporters of these projects "so the nation's aging electrical grid can continue to provide cheap and reliable power to big Eastern cities and their growing suburbs."<br /><br />let me restate:<br />"so the nation's aging electrical grid can continue to provide cheap and reliable power to big Eastern cities and their growing suburbs."<br /><br />So, who's the NIMBY now?<br /><br />So,<br /><br />More and more and more and more of this:<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0322/685833492_KdifV-M.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0322/685833492_KdifV-M.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Again, if you look <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> closely, you can see a car.<br /><br />And PATH? Potomac Allegheny Transmission Highline? Hoo-boy! talk about a wasp nest of controversy. This 768KV transmission line has been sold to the public under every banner imaginable. Just like the Mount Storm example above, Seems that PATH is the fancy new smart grid stuff. Wind power has been big rational behind the push for this power line. For these new non-base load generation station, we need a much more interactive grid. PATH is the answer. Oddly, PATH goes right past a whole lot of coal generation resources. Lots and lots and lots of coal, for pretty much the same reason. To get more power, out of WV and Ohio over the mountains, and into the growing monster maw of the I-95 corridor. Google about, look at the maps, there you have it.<br /><br />A lot of energy in generated in WV, 70% of it leaves the state. As much as our nation needs energy, to light the Wall Mart parking lots at 3am, to run traffic lights all night long on 8 lanes of highway in the middle Tysons Corner Va, in the middle of the night, when that's a day-job-only office cubicle horror of concrete and asphalt, then WV must be the wealthiest state in the region. Heck, it has all the power!<br /><br />Errr, no. Not exactly.<br /><br />PATH and TrAIL are turning this: (Looking back)<br /><br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0692/891019834_6VjXh-XL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0692/891019834_6VjXh-S.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> A boreal forest at modest elevation near the Canaan Valley in WV, home to a biodiversity that isn't even understood, much less fully explored. Those of you who have driven through northern Michigan would be right at home here.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0693/891019756_mN5je-S.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/IMG0693/891019756_mN5je-S.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Into this: (Looking Forward)<br /><br /><br /><br />Soil subsidence, contiguous forest broken up, there will be runoff, there will be erosion, and there are now breaks in the canopy where there were none before. And for the record, unlike when this area was logged off over a hundred years ago, this opening will never be allowed to close. It will be maintained with broadcast herbicides, which will accumulate, as they always do. And yes, this is the top of YOUR watershed.<br /><br />"When the well's dry, we know the worth of water."<br /> -Ben Franklin<br /> <span style="font-size:85%;">--quoted from Poor Richards, but I think it was cribbed.</span><br /><br />With each passing day, we have less and less contiguous forest. If you think this doesn't matter, then you are quite mistaken. (hint, it's the water, SxxxxD!) Pretty much everything I can link viz benefits of contiguous forest is behind one paywall or another.<br /><br />Okay, okay, but what does this have to do with Wind Power?<br /><br />Well, all of these many-multi Billion dollar projects was pushed through because it would exploit wind power. But whats actually being exploited in coal burning power. Wind power at this scale just doesn't play out.<br /><br />One thing to keep in mind, The US, especially the 'beltway effected' US, (our Capitol Region) isn't europe. That picture above, of all the SUVs and Pickups in a parking lot. That's in the northern va suburbs (the area to be served by TrAIL) home to some of vast legions of Government Contractors (locally known as beltway bandits). The sense of entitlement here is foreign to many, but drive in the am commuter traffic, and it's palatable.<br />These folks don't do small. They don't turn out the lights, they turn them on and leave them on. I love sitting at a traffic light controlled well lit intersection at a red light at 4:30 am with no traffic in sight.<br /><br />Base load, it's all about base load. Lots of power, needed all the time. Heck, as a system administrator, I consider it a victory if I can convince someone to turn off their workstation when they go on vacation. This <a href="http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/myth-of-baseload.html">website</a> claims to debunk the 'myth' of base load. Well, it doesn't. Even with the new smarty-griddy stuff, variable loads are a pain in the neck to moderate. What a base load is to a coal plant, according to folks I've known who worked in them, is all the power they can make. Again, I can't find a paper that shows where anyone is shutting down their coal generation because the abundant wind energy is carrying the load.<br /><br />However, what this large, industrial scale wind generation has done, has increased the capacity <span style="font-style: italic;">on paper</span>. More capacity, more customers, more growth. More endless tract mansions, more big box store strip malls, more fast food, more and better lit highways. More insanity. And there is where it ties back into opening bit about oil.<br /><br />Billions and billions have been spent already, and many more billions are in planning for more and bigger transmission highlines. More and bigger windfarms, and (this part you may or may not be hearing about) more natural gas fired power plants. Ah, now the Marcellus Shale enters the fray. When the TrAIL makes it down into northern va, There is already a proposal for a new <a href="http://www.loudounpower.com/">natural gas power plant</a> to be built very near the TrAIL. Hrmmm.<br /><br />One of the funny bits about these large industrial wind turbines, is while they most certainly can make a whopping amount of power, they aren't all that reliable, even when the wind is blowing, and further, that power has to be transmitted over long distances. Most folks don't want these big noisy monsters in their backyards, so they make sure they are built far far away. On once-quiet and remote ridgetops. NIMBY indeed. Anyway, try reading some papers on transmission line loss, transmission line balancing and such. Line losses are quite real. The resources consumed in even a relatively short haul highline like TrAIL are immense. That's setting aside the environmental impacts of it's construction and maintenance, which of course, is setting aside the environmental impacts of it being there at all. Huge amounts of power are generated, and never realized in real work done by that power. Wasted. Now, for an industrial wind turbine, oddly, unlike those 'backyard' wind turbines with which some of us are familiar, these machines are not passive devices, they use power, a lot of power, to function. The blades need to be pitch adjusted according to the wind velocity, the whole turbine head needs to be kept 'on the wind' and I was actually stunned to learn, that in times of no wind, if the time is long enough, the generator itself needs to be powered, to spin the turbine like a fan, to keep the blades and driveline from taking a set. (this is my jaw hitting the table). Just like large ships in port will idle their drive line, slowly turning the screws when not underway. That stuff is heavy, and it's balance and trueness is critical.<br /><a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/dsc00658/214483910_pyvt2-O-1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 221px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Landscapes/windmills/dsc00658/214483910_pyvt2-M-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So, how much power do the turbines use? Well, strangely, those numbers aren't published anywhere. Not publicly anyway. Seems that the real unvarnished numbers from these new wind farms aren't that easy to get.<br /><br />So, do they make any power at all? <span style="font-weight: bold;">I don't know</span>! I can't find the numbers!<br /><br />I know folks sold the project. I know folks bought the project, I know there were a lot of subsidies involved, and huge tax breaks, just simply huge. I know at lot of folks from all over driving every gigantic vehicle were all over the place while this farm was being built, using a lot of diesel. So, yeah, folks made money. Who pays? Well, initially the rate payers, and ultimately the tax payers. I know this, the executive boards of the energy companies do pretty well. I hope folks reading this blog are familiar enough with Enron-style accounting and powerpoints and excel spreadsheets to know that 'shenanigans' can be quite profitable. On the PATH and TrAIL, some of the investors might surprise you. Dig around and check it out.<br />(No, I'm not linking *my* blog to some of that stuff).<br /><br />In short, I think the whole concept, (with which I was once in love) is a gigantic scam. I think the environment suffers, I think the american people are being fleeced.<br /><br />Look, right now, <span style="font-style: italic;">they</span> are revamping Tyson's Corner. A good friend of mine once hunted those open fields for pheasant, by himself, with a dog and a 16g side-by-side, when he was like 11 years old. I cannot imagine what he feels when he sees that concrete horror. Anyway, <span style="font-style: italic;">Finally </span>they are adding a Metro line out there. On NPR, I heard the numbers, I don't know if I remember them correctly, but I know I'm close. Full time live-there residents are in the 15K neighborhood. There are 10x that many commuters that drive in and out of there every single day. That is INSANE. Sure, I'd like to see that region transition to something that made more sense. Was walkable, bikable. But as long as SUV-land is accepted/encouraged, that ain't happening. This Dulles extension is going to cost billions and billions. And it won't change a thing. What it will do, is use up a lot more of that tasty WV power.<br /><br />Okay, you want to use a whole bunch of power? Generate it yourself. Get the railroads working properly again, and I'm sure the coal operators will sell you all the coal you want, burn it in your own backyard. Want wind power? Put it up in your own backyard. Nukes? If it ain't safe enough to put in DC, it ain't safe enough to put anywhere. NIMBY? Who's the NIMBY?<br /><br />Once all the rooftops are covered with solar panels, Once all the metro tracks are shaded by the miles and miles of PV solar arrays, Once the able bodied are transporting themselves without the direct aide of fossil fuels, opening all kinds of wonderful options for those with the handicap cards, then come and say it's necessary to tear apart one of the most valuable ecological regions to meet our 'needs'. But I suspect, by that time, should it ever come, we'll know better. Much better.<br /><br />Think of the jobs. Think of the health care benefits.<br /><br />The cost of builidng and maintaining these gigantic infrastructures is killing everything. Running up our deficits, ruining our health, and our ways of life. I mean, the folks who could build this, could build anything! Just look at it!<br /><br />So, what works? This works: (Really looking forward!)<br /><a href="http://getpimby.blogspot.com/2009/09/windy-days-for-wind-turbines-in-wv.html" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 425px; height: 640px;" src="http://www.getpimby.com/files/images/XLTurbine_andI.preview.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is my friend, Matt Sherald of PIMBY Energy LLC of Thomas WV. That's a 10kw monster Bergey Excel-S turbine. <a href="http://www.bergey.com/">Bergey</a>, <a href="http://www.xzeres.com/products.php">ARE</a>, others make stuff like this and much smaller.<br /><br />Another local fellow, working out of his (admitted well outfitted) shop/garage is making his own turbine. I've seen the power house and brake/housing stuff up close and personal. Really kicking myself for not taking pictures. <a href="http://www.briery.com/">http://www.briery.com/</a><br /><br />Look, what's our deficit today? according to the BBC, it's way up there in the stratosphere above $1.4 Trillion, some number to which I cannot even relate. But I do know, that as a citizen, my share (if the census projections are close) is near $43K.<br /><br />Yes, we need real leadership, but we also need to <span style="font-style: italic;">only</span> accept <span style="font-style: italic;">real</span> leadership, in large part, by taking a leadership role ourselves. I get a bit frustrated (heh) with folks over all this regulation talk. I don't want any more regulation, I want less, much less regulation. Something the loud folks who talk less regulation seem to miss is that there is no clear delineation between the regulators and the regulated. The first regulatory agency in the federal government, the Interstate Commerce Commission was set up by the railroads. There is no clear delineation between the federal government and the energy business for certain. Heck, there is no clear delineation between the federal government and big business at all.<br /><br />Small scale power democratizes the energy market. The more folks take responsibility for their own requirements, the smaller those requirements will get, believe you me.<br /><br />I don't want coal powered stuff, but it's not going to go away. I know that. And industrial wind power is a step in the wrong direction in my well considered opinion. In fact, all power infrastructure projects, as they currently exist share the same drawbacks. Think post-substation neighborhood grid. neighborhoods of solar roofs on grid tie/net metered systems downstream of the local substation don't bother the grid, and the social benefits are huge. Adapt the zoning laws to reflect the energy realities of today. Not some mistaken and shortsighted mythological 50s.<br /><br />Yeah, I think MRI machines are good and useful, and all kinds of stuff like that. Street lights lighting the miles and miles of empty strip malls? Less so.<br /><br />Big problems can be solved with small solutions.<br /><br />"Oh, solar is too expensive, the kwh/$$ is all wrong". It's all a question of scale. The power in your wrist watch costs something akin to four thousand dollars per kilowatt hour. But people still have battery powered wrist watches. You think solar arrays are expensive on the roof? What do you think a nuke plant will cost? Ever notice that no one is willing to talk about one of those things outside the context of government backed loans?<br /><br />I heard some talking head from Bank America on CSPAN this am, he was making noise that current PV solar was in the neighborhood of 15% efficient (at converting the solar radiation striking the surface area of the panel to electrical power) and if we could get that up to 30 percent we'd really have something. What? There are folks out there right now, who paid insane prices for solar PV 30+ years ago, who have been laughing at the rest of us, for OVER 30 YEARS. Sure, it would be great to get to 30%. But the stuff we have today, that we had 10, 20, 30+ years ago works,<br />still works. The first solar cells ever made back in the 1950s still work, and still don't pollute. I'm all for pushing the technology forward, but not if it's at the cost of deployment. How many times have I heard or read folks explaining that they are going to wait because they read some press release from some company that has no actual product, that the price was getting ready to drop? Well, I've heard it a lot. The best way to push this technology forward it to deploy it. The time is now.<br /><br />One thing this fellow did touch on that wasn't quite so insane was that BoA (I know, not everyone's favorite too-big-to-fail right now) worked with GM (I know, ibid) on keeping their energy use flat while they expanded certain operations through increasing efficiency and energy auditing, and managed to find a bottom line savings of four billion dollars in energy costs. Yeah, four billion. That's what he said, I dunno. But I do know that ALL of the studies done, since Carter starting talking this game all those many decades ago, show that dollar for dollar, energy efficiency trumps energy use every single time. And <span style="font-style: italic;">that's</span> where the future is.<br /><br />Ready or not, here it comes.<br /><br />"I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that."<br />-T.A. Edision<br />-- in conversation with Henry Ford and Firestone, from 'Uncommon Friends'. (a good read btw.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-87680695399321589972010-05-09T13:35:00.026-04:002010-05-09T16:08:24.412-04:00Chicken CoupeAnd so it began;<br /><br />(pics are all click-able to bigger pics)<br /><br />She was pretty serious it seems in her intention to actually get chickens running about in the yard. The idea had been kicked about for a number of years, but the deepening involvement in PASA and with some of our more favorite local farms and farmers proved to tip the scales, and it seems the kitchen garden/edible landscape wouldn't be complete without some form of livestock. So, chickens. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.zengerfarm.org/urban-farming"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 180px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2050/2483848997_17345eb0e5_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Initially inspired by this pic off the <a href="http://www.surlybikes.com/2008_05_01_blog_archive.html">Surlyblog</a> a couple of years back, the concept for this coop had been brewing for a while. I was like, "Hey, that looks like an oversized gardencart!". So, the slow search for a domestically manufactured garden cart began. Yes, you see these things sitting in the corner of various backyards all over the country, usually in places where folks drive old volvos, have Appalachian Trail stickers on their 'stuff', a ski wax thermometer hung on a shed, and lots of stuff growing all over the places. These carts are often decades old, have years-old compost still sitting in them, and yet, they still seem to be functional. So, off to a few garden centers, finding lots of 'knock-offs' from various pacific rim points of origin. Some searching about on the internet, despite the oft-told story of 'Oh, you can't get those anymore', and <a href="http://www.cartsvermont.com/">Carts Vermont</a> came up. Calling around to various garden centers, 'No, we have <span style="font-style:italic;">this</span> cart instead' blah blah blah, I ponied up and ordered the large garden cart with the 'heavy duty' wheels from Carts Vermont, and it arrived a while back, just in time for her birthday. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0649/856943400_hMdzw-XL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0649/856943400_hMdzw-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />A couple of weeks prior to Easter, the chicken need became too much, so it was off to drive about and pick up Peeps. You can read about that big fun over <a href="http://growinginyourbackyard.blogspot.com/2010/03/spring-arrives-in-small-boxes.html">here</a> . Time goes by, and these critters pretty quickly outgrow their kiddy pool of wood shavings and chicken wire, and even they get tired of stinking up the house. So, it was time to actually make good on my promise to build the new chicken house. So, I hauled out the shiny new garden cart, and started adding wood. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#856941329_LsBTp-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0650/856941329_LsBTp-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> The initial concept was pretty simple. Was to hold four chickens, and with that criteria in mind, she got six peeps figuring four would make it to laying age. Things have changed a bit since the days when everyone got their peeps through the mail I guess, as -aside from some real drama with the Blue Hamburg involving application of chicken proctology- these chickens are all doing really well in their teenage weeks, and so the house will likely be the home of six rather than four. Anyway moving along, it needed nesting boxes, two doors, (a chicken coop can only have two doors, if it has four, it's a chicken sedan) for easy cleaning, needs to be tightly secure-able against critters that might like chickens and eggs as tasty nighttime snacks, and be a happy home for chickens. So, add more wood:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#856936088_UP5qb-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0653/856936088_UP5qb-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> She -rightly I think- came up with the idea of using those big kitty litter boxes that had served us so well in other applications for nesting boxes that could be easily removed and cleaned regularly. Chicken hygiene -as it turns out- is crucial to happy healthy birds. The old days of feeding and watering them on the ground, and letting them roll about in their filth is long gone. Gee, whoda thunkit? Add more wood: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#856937695_SZs3p-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0652/856937695_SZs3p-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> The wood was all sourced from a local sawmill that doesn't have a webpage, elsewhile I'd link it right up. A family operation, they've been supplying us with all kinds of goodies at prices that $BIG_BOX shoppers can only dream about. In this case, we're using 4-quarter to 5-quarter by ten, or nine and a half or eleven or so hemlock, rough sawn fresh off the blade face and air dried on edge. You can keep that kiln dried stuff of which the production first-and-only folks are so fond. I got no use for it. Gimme 'real' lumber any day. (okay, as a small mill operator myself, I might be biased, fair enough). "Gasp! Hemlock? The silent sentinels of the secret and sacred mountain creeks? How can you?" Well, most of this is 'salvage' harvested, with NO THANKS at all to the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=3&ved=0CCEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcnr.state.pa.us%2Fforestry%2Fwoollyadelgid%2Findex.aspx&rct=j&q=hemlock+wooly+adelgid&ei=m__mS_nkGsH88AagmYnxCA&usg=AFQjCNGFz4eaBgjfb2_Pdjz8i-TXdnRSeg&sig2=dJrO6jvz_gJjpfaOHZ1vPw">hemlock woolly adelgid</a> It's not without thought that I use this wood from these trees that I deeply love. It's a reminder, , , and a sacrement. <br /><br />Anyway, add more wood: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#856933355_xaCKC-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0655/856933355_xaCKC-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It began to make some sense. Some folks have made mention of wanting to see the plans. Plans? We ain't got no plans, , Anyway, this is about the point where tearing it apart and starting over began eating at me. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month">Fred Brooks</a> talks about good design and tearing it apart and starting over being part of the design process, but the chickens need a house, and they need it now, not when I think this project should be ready. Add more wood:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#856928236_zTHWQ-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0658/856928236_zTHWQ-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> I know I could do better if I started over. Maybe I'll build another one and sell it, this time documenting it so others can build'em. But I have a feeling that only an idiot would spend this amount of time and money and effort on a backyard chicken house. Touche`<br /><br />Add more wood:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#856931693_QFLzp-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0656/856931693_QFLzp-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> And so on. <br />The windows were a lot of fun. These were salvaged from the house when the new thermal windows were installed last year. These were in the bathroom and the folks who had installed them had a lot of fun with 'stained glass' applique. They had been kicking around in the big shed waiting for a place and time, that being now and here. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#856926808_Cy3tL-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0659/856926808_Cy3tL-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> It's starting to make sense now. Chickens need a roost, and the roost is easily removable for cleaning. Trap door for chickens to come and go, and it is latched up at night to keep the critters out. Add more wood.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#857169807_H89RS-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0664/857169807_H89RS-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> I didn't want to, but it was off to $BIG_BOX hardware/building supply depot for that sheet of plywood. Initially I'd hoped to just fir out the roof for the steel, but the plywood layer just made sense from a weight/rigidity standpoint, so on it went. That plywood was too large to move in my prius work truck, but we managed anyway, just bent it and shoved/pulled it in, nearly sawing off some fingers on my right hand in the process. Some colorful language on that one. Nearly done adding wood at this point. Time to bring the chickens in to see what they think. (Do chickens think? I think they do.) <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#857165408_WuUqq-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0668/857164232_uwCJE-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#857165408_WuUqq-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0667/857165408_WuUqq-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Chicken pondering. <br /><br />More chicken thoughts and considerations:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#857166485_uf4Nz-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0666/857166485_uf4Nz-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> All in all, they didn't seem too convinced. Not too sure about it all. Well, at least they got to go back home to the kiddy pool for a couple more nights while the finishing got done. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#860116974_WgG3G-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0671/860116974_WgG3G-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> There was some miscommunication between the contractor/contractee/painter/builder concerning the stain. But it grows on ya. Really. I expect it will help with the much-needed winter heat gain also. Really, it grows on ya. Sure, the naked wood looked nice, but it's not real practical. And we're told that chickens like red. So, there you are! really helped nail down the roof color though. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#860117051_qQGnw-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0672/860117051_qQGnw-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> For some reason, the pic doesn't show it very well, but it's a nice green roof, really sets off the colour. Not that it matters much, as most of the roof is covered by a relatively huge PV panel. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#860117160_3VFeM-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0673/860117160_3VFeM-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> This grossly oversized (greater than 200w) PV panel was supplied by the good folks at <a href="http://www.getpimby.com/">Pimby Energy LLC of</a> Thomas WV. Freight damaged salvage. The tempered glass laminate is shattered, and it's virtually useless in a proper array. A big shame, but I thought it might make a useful addition to a chicken coop. At some point I'll have to figure out how to shore it up some from underneath. Add some more structure to the frame, and fill it with expanding foam or something, as the surface really will not bear a snow or wind load. For now, it's set at this extreme 'summer' angle, principally because it's easy, and that reduces the wind loading a lot. There is a pretty chunky AGM battery mounted beneath the axle underneath the cart. This helps stabilize the cart a bit, lowering the center of gravity without changing the fore-aft balance, This battery will run the fence energizer for the electric fence, and will at some future time, power ventilation and some lighting for the backyard. Also, it's my intention to add a decent inverter so we can run electrical tools in the garden/kitchen-farm. This will also serve as an APU for the house. Also, maybe pump some water around. We hu-mons love to move water around, it's what we do best. Heck, it's what we're all about. Okay, moving along, chickens in a cart, cart won't go, , , <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#860117304_C4GW4-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0677/860117304_C4GW4-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> The chickens still aren't really sure about the coop, but Wow! do they love being out in their little electric fence. The fence is basically a net, and we like the color, it doesn't stand out. The chickens don't seem to be bothered by it at all, but boy! work down on your knees and brush up against it, and you'll wish you hadn't! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#860117389_5hDsE-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0678/860117389_5hDsE-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> At this time, the chickens still aren't all that keen on the coop, and they don't like to go in when it gets dark. Typical teenagers. But they sure do like being out in the yard. The electric fence isn't so much about keeping them in, as it is about keeping them safe. From predators and torturers of all kinds. Neighbors have lost backyard rabbits to bored kids, and we'd just as soon they not come for visits here. We want folks to see and appreciate the garden and the chickens and all the fun, but we also like for folks to enjoy from a distance. Especially their dogs. So, that's it for now. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/12066627_fzsCr#861572394_3HHPo-XL-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Food/chicken-coup/IMG0680/861572394_3HHPo-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-56733944546238253902009-12-07T08:42:00.009-05:002009-12-07T09:29:10.884-05:00Running away from Jack FrostWell, the last blog entry never really got updated. But the story was written here:<br /><a href="http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2x6gapco">http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2x6gapco</a>.<br /><br />This past weekend was <a href="http://www.whitegrass.com/report.html">Jack Frost</a> and a great time was had by all I'm quite sure. Conditions were perfect. <br />Day started out with lots of snow coming down. Beautiful snow. Almost no wind, and the snow just pouring out of the sky. A quick ride around town and then over to <a href="http://hypnocoffee.blogspot.com/">HypnoCoffee</a> for a tasty treat.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0576/734257697_uzuc6-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0576/734257697_uzuc6-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Can't get this at *buck$. <br />Note to self, riding about on Pugsley during a snowstorm. All is good until you take off downhill. When doing so, don't leave your sno goggles at home. Coming down hill from the top of town was pretty fun riding blind. Pugsley descends much faster than I ski, so. Just remember.<br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Bicycles/Pugsley/IMG0578/732612722_FyjRs-XL.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Bicycles/Pugsley/IMG0578/732612722_FyjRs-XL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Anyway, sitting there, drinking my tasty treat, The very idea of going to Jack Frost started getting on my nerves. Dunno why. Didn't make it last year due to other stuff going on. For some reason, I just couldn't see going to a party. Truth be told, I don't like parties very much. So I ran away. <br /><br />Running away, took me off into some beautiful places.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0581/732627928_Vyk4s-XL.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 256px; height: 192px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0581/732627928_Vyk4s-XL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Of course, the snow was falling so hard that the trees couldn't hold it, and I was getting hammered by big dumps of snow. Still managed to push my little camera about as far as it would go. I like this thing, but this is about as far as I can get it to go. I hate the idea of getting 'more' camera. But that might be the future. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0582/732628018_54JaR-XL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 289px; height: 384px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/Other/cpm-stuff/IMG0582/732628018_54JaR-XL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Guess I'm sorry I ran away, but I did. In point of fact, I was off trying to find Crow. Yeah, I often look for crow off in the wintry places. Other thoughts on stuff going through my mind pretty much all day. In a lot of ways, it's best I not spend a lot of time on my own, but<br />again, I just wasn't into a party. <br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Why not spare a thought this day <br />for those who have no flame<br />To warm their bones at Christmas time?<br />Say Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow.<br /><br /> --Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow<br /> --Jethro Tull</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-64093379423125057412009-10-04T08:44:00.005-04:002009-10-05T08:51:53.655-04:006 days and counting.Almost ready. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/668708232_JuSfZ-XL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/668708232_JuSfZ-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Almost ready. <br /><br />Put the first aid kit together yesterday. I'm so used to solo trips that I long since got into the admittedly bad habit of carrying one. Sat up last night hand sewing elastic bands to use for tucking in all the dangling straps that hang off of everything these days. That fanny pack that I'm using as a side back, to hold a camera, rain gear, gloves, whatever has bunches of straps that want to get tangled in things, drag on the ground, whatever. <br /><br />What am I talking about?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/668708732_jbeDr-XL.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/668708732_jbeDr-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Tracey and I are headed out for gentle little ride starting this coming weekend, (Columbus Day weekend). Starting at Connelsville Pa, and riding to Harpers Ferry, WV along the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail and C&O Towpath trail. <br /><br />You can follow the journey at Crazyguyonabike, here: <a href="http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2x6gapco">http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2x6gapco</a><br /><br />I'll probably be double-journal-ing (heh) this, as I have a propensity to ramble off into tangental and unrelated stuff that won't be appropriate on that site. So, my commentaries will probably end up here. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/668721220_Pm6HW-XL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/668721220_Pm6HW-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />This should prove interesting. <br />I bought my <a href="http://www.junglehammock.com">clark jungle hammock</a> over 10 years ago. It has served me and others well in that time. It was a great product. I was thinking how cool it would be if Clark would dream up a 2 person camping hammock. If anyone could do it, they could. Well, they did. So I bought one. I'm still a little light headed when I think about how much it cost. We'll have to do 100 nights in it for it to be worth it. But it sure looks nice. Much lighter construction than my original clark, but seems pretty good.<br /><br />We'll see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-84292018235010118962009-08-03T10:18:00.038-04:002009-08-04T07:10:28.621-04:00There and Back Again on the Pa Turnpike Bike Trail<div style="text-align: center;">There and Back Again<br />Up and Down the Pennsylvania Turnpike Bike Path.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612480_Yvepd-XL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612480_Yvepd-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /></div></div><br /><br />Well, one thing folks have emailed to let me know is that the images are too small.<br />So, if you want to see bigger images then click on them to go to the gallery.<br /><br />Anyway, A while back I heard that there was a section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike up near Breezewood Pa that had been abandoned back in 1968 or so. The folks at <a href="http://www.pike2bike.org/">Pike 2 Bike</a> are attempted to turn this into a real bike trail recreation area. Currently it appears to be under the aegis of the Pa Game Commission who is being nice by allow folks to access it, though the area is officially closed. Please take note, this is not a safe area for biking, road hazards exist and lord only knows what horrors lurk in those tunnels.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609611955_u6H8p-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609611955_u6H8p-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />We chose to begin the 8.5 mile ride at the eastern end. This would allow for more out of the way parking and a mostly uphill start to the ride, and conversely a mostly downhill finish. When we pulled in and started unloading and putting together the trikes, a local fellow came out of his driveway and drove up to see if he could be of any help. Seems the way we were parked with the back door open looked to him like we had our hood up. Nice fellow. This is a good parking spot, be nice if folks would pick up their trash. <br /><br /> The ride itself begins inauspiciously enough, just a jersey barricade barrier with some notifications and safety tips. When they say helmets and lights are needed, they aren't kidding. Say what you will about riding with or without helmets, in this place, if you are going through the tunnels, don't kid around. There are big chunks of debris on the tunnel roadway that all started off in the roof. We met a wise hiker who was wearing a hard hat in the tunnel. Other hikers not so wise. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609611900_mrfmf-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609611900_mrfmf-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center>Starting off</center><br /><br />Around the eastern terminus barrier, the ride begins with a very gentle uphill climb of about 1 mile. During the climb, I could feel an occasional gust of cool moist air on this otherwise hot and dry day. Cavers know the feeling, and soon coming around a bend, the entrance to Sidling Hill Tunnel, which is just about 1.3 miles in length.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612389_5hVK8-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612389_5hVK8-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Doesn't show up well in the pic, but there is a mist rolling out of the tunnel</center><br /><br />We were just getting into this tunnel, when we had our first flat. The road surface is in terrible shape. Ridable, sure, but really torn up. In the tunnel itself, the roadway is littered with chunks of concrete that have fallen from the ceiling, and who-knows-what in the way of broken glass and whatall that has been tossed into the tunnel by the roaming hordes of vandals, cannibals and vampires that frequent the area. <br /><br />We turned around and rode back into the light to patch a tube, and then began the trek back through the tunnel. My headlight immediate failed. Yeah, it had been a while since I charged the battery. Oh well, my fault. I had a back up Petzel micro, and that was barely sufficient, but it worked. She was using a Petzel duo headlamp, and we just took our time.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612602_FcTN8-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612602_FcTN8-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612645_uayTy-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609612645_uayTy-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Western end of the Sidling Hill tunnel</center><br /><br />Heading west, we kept moving from the east bound lanes to the west bound lanes and back again trying for the best road surface. Yeah, in the after-times, the interstate road surfaces aren't going to hold up as long as one might think. For a while we conjectured as to which held up better, the more shaded vs the more exposed road surfaces. Studies seem to show that the shaded roadways hold up better because they have fewer freeze/thaw cycles, but we weren't really able to determine much difference. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609632507_icWGQ-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609632507_icWGQ-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Some fellow intrepid explorers east bound </center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609632731_stXDP-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609632731_stXDP-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Wildlife not quite as threatened by trike as truck traffic </center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609701651_ERitC-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609701651_ERitC-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> A Peeper? </center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609632655_uEnWi-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609632655_uEnWi-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> <a href="http://www.sandlotscience.com/MysterySpots/Mystery_Spots_1.htm">Mystery Spot</a> </center><br /><br /><br />As you can clearly see in this picture, we are going downhill. Everything visual says 'you are going downhill'. Yet, stop peddling, and you will slow to a stop, and back slightly. I've heard of these places, and this one is about a quarter of a mile long. There is a mystery spot that is well known not too far from here. I was very surprised to find this one, as I've never heard anyone mention it before in blogs that i've read. But here it is. Go there and see for yourself. West bound lane about midway between Sideline Hill and Ray's Hill. It's bizarre, and oddly, kinda irritating.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609701829_kgJ79-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609701829_kgJ79-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> More explorers. All in all, I think we saw about 40 out there. </center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609702264_vtZ9J-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609702264_vtZ9J-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609702750_f7kYe-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609702750_f7kYe-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Heading into Ray's Hill. Note you can see the far end </center><br /><br />So, onward thru Ray's Hill tunnel, to get to the other side. Once to the other side, it's a downhill run into Breezewood. Honestly, Breezewood gives me the creeps. So we just turned around and started back.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609703049_dgRez-X2-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609703049_dgRez-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609702968_5c9Si-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609702968_5c9Si-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> East Bound and Down. </center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609804851_XXhH7-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609804851_XXhH7-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Pssssst! Psssssst! Pssssst! </center><br /><br />Flat Number 2. <br />Just exiting the second tunnel, she flatted. From the thorns we pulled out of one of the non-flat tires, looked like Multiflora Rose that was beginning to grow into the roadway.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609805203_PWP7D-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609805203_PWP7D-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Cruz'n on back east bound. Actually had a mile or so that was pretty relaxing. Did we ever pass this way as children? I'm quite sure we did. This road was closed in '68, so there's a good chance. The 'Bump, Bump, Bump, Bump' of the old Pa Turnpike becomes pretty evident at 20+mph. But I stopped taking pictures by then. I guess we probably touched 30mph or so at one point. Fast enough that her flag blew off. Just a naked flag pole by the end. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609805645_sbmgU-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609805645_sbmgU-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Once more back into Sidling Hill tunnel. Again, coming up the grade one could feel hints of moist cool air well before the tunnel came into view. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609805912_q3ric-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609805912_q3ric-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />And once more into the light. Good ride all in all. I liked Mud Fish's graffiti the best, by far. I'm sure Mud Fish knows what I mean. Most of the rest of the stuff was just a waste of time and paint. Some of it was good. But a lot of it was the same old tired stuff. I used to creep a lot of places like this when I was young, never saw the point of all that though. Unless I had something of note to add. Very few here did.<br /><br />It was a fun ride. Properly equipped, one could easily make a full day of it. The tunnels beg for more and deeper exploration. The road sides don't yield much for 'shoulder combing', pretty picked over. But the plants and critters abound, and it's a quiet and peaceful place. <br /><br />There is more to it than we did here. Bridges have been removed which isolates this into the more popular and interesting stretch. But there are other abandoned sections, and other tunnel to the east. Perhaps for another time. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609839264_gPH2j-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609839264_gPH2j-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Breezewood, The Horror, The Horror How many logos can you spot?</center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/9140896_dE6CW#609849030_hkWVx-XL-LB"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/609849030_hkWVx-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center> Parting Shot </center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-64495955780543807592009-07-13T09:43:00.003-04:002009-07-13T09:47:58.665-04:00Buy Fresh, Bike Local<center> Pennsylvania Buy Fresh, Bike Local Ride</center><br /><center> Cumberland County Pa.</center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/588240965_KwV2C-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/588240965_KwV2C-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Pretty fun. <br /><br />Some pics here:<a href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/8873799_DJSFj#588241376_DaupE">http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/8873799_DJSFj#588240965_KwV2C</a><br /><br />If I can find a list of the good folks who sponsored this ride, provided the excellent food, and all that, I'll put link them up. <br /><br />A good time was had by all (again).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-25838777358723793892009-07-06T13:38:00.011-04:002009-07-06T13:58:39.660-04:00A short ride up King's Gap<center> A short ride up <a href="http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/kingsgap.aspx">Kings Ga</a>p </center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583625991_PdKbV-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583625991_PdKbV-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />To make a short ride story even shorter, we went for a ride up Kings Gap on Sat. <br />A four mile climb. Maybe someone will tell me the gradient of this ride, seemed pretty gentle but relentless to me.<br /><br />The pic above is at about mile one. Was a cool and cloudy day.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583626089_ywQWn-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583626089_ywQWn-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>This is long about mile 2. I wanted to stop at the little pond, but TLC was just cranking it out, so follow along did I. Puff Puff.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583626292_dVKA9-L.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583626292_dVKA9-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <br /><br /><br /><br />So, here we are at about mile 3. Right about now is when something in my right leg started shouting at me. Adductor longus, or Gracillis, or both, or heck, all three or four or whatall is in there. But I'd noticed this during my weekly commute. Gonna be careful with this now.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583626433_KYnzV-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/583626433_KYnzV-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Hooray! The top. My knee/leg really wanted a break. Took an hour and seven minutes to do these four miles to the top. We didn't dawdle about up top, much as we would have liked, had somewhere to be. I won't go into how long the descent took. The speed limit on the road is 15mph; so telling, umm, would be telling.<br /><br />This is really a beautiful place. Shame we were pressed for time. Another time perhaps. <br /><br />This weekend, the Buy Fresh Bike Local ride is on for Cumberland County, Pa. Looking forward to that one. These are good folks, doing good work.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.buylocalpa.org/event/view/438"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 124px;" src="http://www.buylocalpa.org/images/userimages/eventimages/w150/124301519363.131.53.49.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />(yes yes, click on all the images, sheesh!)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-13622613841902911132009-07-02T11:13:00.010-04:002009-07-02T11:47:02.311-04:00LFMB Update<center> Lazy Fat Man's Bike Update</center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/580043507_he6sT-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/580043507_he6sT-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />For those of you who <a href="http://cubic-dog.blogspot.com/2008/10/lfmb-revisted-chapter-2.html">recall</a> (and who does?) back in late fall/early winter, I began -again- the quest for a way to try to -again- make my work-week commute a little less likely to kill me, and a little more likely to be agreeable. Seeing how I spend a quite measurable percentage of my waking hours driving back and forth to work, -in some of the worst sprawl traffic in this new world- I figured I needed some kinda break. The idea that I could do at least half of my commute by HPV (human powered vehicle) seemed to fit the bill.<br /><br />Well, it's been a few hundred miles so far since this spring, and it's working out pretty well.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/580043422_KQ2SB-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:left;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/580043422_KQ2SB-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Most days it adds about 45 minutes to 'bike' (I ride a trike) the last 10 miles vs what it takes to drive. However, when the traffic is particularly abysmal and noxious, I don't know that it takes me any more time at all. Guess why I don't know. I don't know because I am not stuck in it! I have no earthly idea what is going on out there on the roads. As these pics show, this is how I spend that + or - hour that makes up the last leg of my commute.<br /><br />Yes, I get lots of grief from folks at work, and yes I have to navigate a few blocks of normal traffic roads in an industrial area populated with aea piloted suvs and whatever the generic term for bmw/benz/audi/jetta/jap-equivalents but that's really okay, it's just a mad dash, and it's over.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/580043458_TqLP6-L.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:right;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/580043458_TqLP6-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> Out on the trail, most folks I encounter are also just pounding out the miles, paying attention to nothing in particular and are pleasant enough. The roadies, well, we all know about that. They are the same folks mentioned earlier except on the bicycle equivalent. And they act accordingly. Fortunately for me, I am so slow, I barely notice them. <br /><br />So, yeah, so far it's working. Funny bit is, I haven't lost a single pound. Strange that.<br /><br />In closing, let us consider this quote from the current issue of Adventure Cycling Association newsletter "Bike Bits":<br /><br /><center> "Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle."<br><br />-- U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)</center><br /><br />Nicely put.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-55458787692099084432009-06-27T13:56:00.027-04:002009-06-29T06:54:25.933-04:002009 Canaan MTB Festival.<center>Dispatches from the Field:</center><br /><a href="http://www.blackwaterbikes.com/CMBF.html">2009 Canaan MTB Festival:</a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340630_qe4Fa-L.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340630_qe4Fa-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Canaan MTB Festival" /></a><br />The weekend, up here back home in Davis, WV. They (we) are having a Mountain Bike Festival. This kinda thing has been going on up here for decades.(Well, on and off). While there are a few annual races and such, it's really nice to have a few days of clinics, and fun rides of varying difficulty for pretty much any level of rider. <a href="http://susanhaywood.blogspot.com/">Sue Haywood<a href="http://www.blackwaterbikes.com/CMBF.html"></a></a> held a women's clinic on friday, which is great. The only competition is the rider competing with themselves. Relaxed, fun and for many quite challenging. Good stuff all around.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575258121_jP75S-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 175px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575258121_jP75S-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Canaan MTB Festival" /></a> The rides today (Sat) were supposed to begin at 9:00 am, so around 10:30 or so, folks started showing up and milling around. Eventually folks signed up for the various rides, and set off for the trails. I was supposed to spend some time with Matt Sherald of <a href="http://www.getpimby.com/">PIMBY Energy LLC</a> this morning, but Matt made the good choice to set the work stuff aside and mount up for one of the rides. Priorities, he's got'em down in the right order.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575372287_dk9jC-L.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575372287_dk9jC-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Canaan MTB Festival" /></a> I chose to head out and go down to my house in Ruth Bell, but changed my mind at the last minute because dear ole Pugsly really needed to get out and play. So I mounted up late and set off to find the folks who took the gentle and mellow ride out Camp 70 led by Gary Berti.<br /><br />I rode and rode, and couldn't find'em. Since I was starting so late, I figured they were already on their way back, and might have come back via some of the nice trails further up the side of the hill, so I wandered up and connected with the Trials Road for some single track back towards town.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575348808_qjPnt-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575348808_qjPnt-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Surly Pugsley" /></a><br /> I can say one thing for my recent commuting via recumbent trike, it doesn't do much to help with my single-track skills. Pugsley was well behaved, civilized and very forgiving however and after a while of that I gave up at the power line and headed back into town.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340697_GjCwo-L.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340697_GjCwo-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Surly Pugsley" /></a> When I got back to town, I took off down to <a href="http://hypnocoffee.blogspot.com/">HypnoCoffee</a> (more <a href="http://www.surlybikes.com/surlyblog.html">Surly</a> folks) to see if I could scare up some lunch, but forgot to bring any cash. Oh well. Did however, take some time to hang out with the good folks at <a href="http://highlandprospects.blogspot.com/">Highland Prospects</a>, who are finally moved into their really nice new space. And gave a few free Pugsley rides. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340653_QFGL6-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340653_QFGL6-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Highland Prospects" /></a> <br />Sorta gave up and came back over to <a href="http://www.blackwaterbikes.com/">Blackwater Bikes</a> about the time that the group I had been looking for showed back up. Lots of smiling folks. good fun times had by all it seems.<br /> Beautiful day. I figured I'd sit down and write this all up. So, there you are.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340666_npZU5-L.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340666_npZU5-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Surly Pugsley" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340679_5GmNe-L.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575340679_5GmNe-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575452531_owDzG-L.jpg"><img style="float:centerk; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575452531_owDzG-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><center> And a Good Time was had by all</center><br /><br />Thank you <a href="http://www.tuckercountytrails.org/">Tucker County Trails</a>.<br /><br />And <a href="http://www.hellbenderburritos.com/">Hellbenders</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-60226311046676462002009-06-27T11:37:00.010-04:002009-07-03T10:47:48.615-04:00Vibram Five Fingers (sigh)Well;<br /><br />Stopped into a shop in Winchester Va a little while back. A shop I had been meaning to stop into for many years. I drive by it all the time, but never when they are open. As I've said in prior blog entries, I'm not a big fan of big mercantile outfits, but I have a deep and abiding soft spot for the independent shopkeep. <br /><br />Whilst perusing the purveyor's paraphernalia, I saw that really silly foot gear (shoes) that are being hyped all over the place. The Vibram Five Fingers. A shoe, that has independent toes. I laughed when I saw'em on the shelf. The good shop keep asked if I wanted to try to fit a pair. What the heck? I stopped laughing the moment I stood up in them. Holy cow! They WORK!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575258183_ypkxY-L.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575258183_ypkxY-L.jpg" border="0" alt="Vibram Five Fingers" /></a> It's just like having the feet you had after a long barefoot summer when you were 10. I love'em!<br /><br />Sure. Not exactly work shoes, even on casual friday, they might not be really appropriate for office wear. And I don't think they'll work real well for my trike ride into work (where I really need to be clipped in), but outside of these things, and deep snow, I think this is pretty much it. I have my balance back, My feet feel better, blah blah blah. The benefits of these things might be overstated in the hype press, but it all makes sense to me. Went for a short hike last week up through the sloppy forests of Blackwater Falls State Park, and, well, gosh. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575258174_QzV5f-XL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 225px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/575258174_QzV5f-M.jpg" border="0" alt="Vibram Five Fingers" /></a> The 'instructions' caution one to break them in. however, it's not them that needs to be broken in, it's one's feet that need to gently get used to actually being used in the manner in which they are meant to be used. Yer foot gets to learn how to act like a foot again. Pretty cool, and feels great. <br /><br />Made in China? Yeah, pretty much all footwear is these days. Which is wrong headed I think. Made of 'appropriate technology materials?' No. don't think so. Work really well? Yeah, so far, so good.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-39757385016023692982009-06-24T07:06:00.006-04:002009-06-24T07:18:12.894-04:00Post Apocalypse, Post 'Growth' Post Peak Oil, A glimpse of the futureI have no earthly idea what it is about stuff like this that completely fascinates me.<br />But here is a blog about abandoned cities from around the globe.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dirjournal.com/info/abandoned-places-in-the-world/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="http://www.dirjournal.com/info/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/san5.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />This one caught in my throat:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dirjournal.com/info/abandoned-places-in-the-world/"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://www.dirjournal.com/info/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/pripyat5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />See the whole gallery and read the blog here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dirjournal.com/info/abandoned-places-in-the-world/">http://www.dirjournal.com/info/abandoned-places-in-the-world/</a><br /><br />And yes, Children of Men is one of my favorite movies. I wouldn't say I like it, but I think it does a brilliant job of illustrating that "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuyRdJupbvU">We are going to end up exactly where we are heading</a>."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-37332476307013147732009-04-03T08:43:00.012-04:002009-04-03T10:24:07.169-04:00The Outdoor IndustryWas the subject of an email I received this week from a dear and old friend, someone I've been happy and proud to have known pretty much my whole life, (with a few decades off every now and again). It went on;<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">.... is an industry with which I'm hardly familiar anymore. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I went to REI to get a basic dayback... they had none... all were overly tricked out, and prices started at ~$90... seems the peoples coop has gone shi-shi upscale... and their customer base has drunk the cool aid too!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">So I went to Chez Target... they had exactly what I needed, well made, in exactly the right color (U of Texas Orange) for $28... plus they seemed to have much of the same basic camping stuff we sold at Appalachian Outfitters, and still at 1970's prices.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Grandma Gatewood advised... "Make a rain cape, and an over the shoulder sling bag, and buy a sturdy pair of Keds tennis shoes. Stop at local groceries and pick up Vienna sausages... most everything else to eat you can find beside the trail... and by the way those wild onions are not called "Ramps"... they are "Rampians" ... a ramp is an inclined plane."</span><br /><br />Now, Granma Gatewood was a sharp one alright, she knew more then than I know now, but I'll differ on the ramps, ramps is ramps. What it is.<br /><br />For those of you who don't know <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Gatewood">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Gatewood</a><br /><br />A reply came in from one of the folks Cc'd on this email that went like this;<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(note, I have edited this stuff, it's not posted verbatim. I did this to obfuscate identities. In some cases I didn't want to impact folks's standing in the industry, in other cases, I just didn't have permission to quote them.)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">$28 seems a bit high, I got a perfectly comfortable and functional, daypack at an outlet store in WV for $19.00.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">When I was in Burlington VT in Feb, there is nice outdoor store there with a used section in the back. Nice name brand coats in excellent condition from $10-$40.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(that's where I snagged the snowshoes that I schlepped around Wheeler Lake with in Feb)</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I have been meaning to bail on my REI credit card ...</span><br /><br />Anyway, I had to respond, as I have some rather strong opinions on matters such as this:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I got heart burn with both approaches.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Target (pronouced 'ar-jay) Boutique approach, just means all the</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">stuff was made by slaves, literally, But it's 'ar-jay, so that's expected.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">The REI approach:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(PS, dearest mutual friend, well respected equipment designer,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">calls all that 'stuff' added to what would have been a useful piece of</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">gear 'doodads' and the marketing folks are very clear on all gear</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">must have them. Lots of doodads, because, like you pointed out,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">if the gear doesn't have doodads, it will collect dust on the shelf)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From a rant posted on the bike touring (phred) list a while back</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">for your reading pleasure:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Hey All:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Not sure how phredish I R, but my camping gear is near</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and dear to me, and is the source of endless ranting for</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">me. So, those who don't like rants, please just move on.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Was long about '73, I finally had saved up enough money</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">for my first 'real' backpack. Here in these appalachian</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">mountains, and I studied it all real hard, and took my</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">hard earned $75 and hitch hiked down to Oakton Va, (a</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">days trip) to purchase a Kelty Mountaineer bag and frame.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Much to my chagrin, the solid old-skool 5 bar mountaineer</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">frame, was no longer 5 horizontal welded bars, but rather</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">3 welded, and 2 bolted with bushings. 'Oh, it's much</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">better' the sales man said, I inquired further, 'oh,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Kelty was purchased by Airstream, and we're not sure</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">where they are taking the product, but it's still good.'</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">was the story behind the story.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Time marches on, the trend was clear. REI, that co-op</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">out west, used to sell the good ole peter storm oiled</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">wool sweater, best piece of outdoor equipment I ever owned.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Then came the rise of the zombie synthetics. Eddie Bauer</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">used to have good down stuff, folks actually used it.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I had an e/b down parka that served me well for many</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">years, the adventures I had with it, ahh, the days.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">REI dropped stuff like the ubiquitous svea stove, the</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">wool sweaters, the leather boots, took on more and</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">more REI branded stuff, MSR came to rule the roost.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">My own experiences with MSR being less than joyful.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The MSR thunderbird ice axe, the one with the pinned</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">head? the one that was notorious for breaking? the</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">one with the aluminum shaft, that stole the heat</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">from your hands if you used it? They called themselves</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mountain Safety Research. With stoves that still have</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">a sketchy reputation in some circles, and so on.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Now REI is filled up with that stuff, seems, after</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">all this time, it's also a 'brand' that's directly</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">associated with REI, along with PUR. Ever notice</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">how some 'brands' are all co-marketed together?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I guess it was about nearly 20 years ago, when I got</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">my annual spring sale flier from REI that advertised</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">cheap Teva sandals. I ran down after work, to be</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">in on the first day of the sale, and happily bought</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">my next few years worth of sandals, as I got about</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">2 years out of a pair, and I bought 2 pairs for</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">less than $30 a pair, Oh, Happy Day!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Then I actually looked at what I bought. They were 1/2</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">as thick as my old ones, the straps, thinner, the</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">velcro coverage, merely a fraction. They were cheap</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">knock-off like things. 'An REI Exclusive'. Seems</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">-and this has the trappings of hear-say- the first</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">of the soon coming boom of pacific rim manufactured</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Teva. You see, up until then, Teva sandals were actually</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">made by Teva people, who lived here, in this country,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and used the products they made. Like Chaco. But</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">now, you see, Teva became an REI associated brand,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and was no longer a product, but a life style brand.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And so it goes. horrible smelling polypro replaced</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">stinking oiled wool. It worked nearly as well,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">sorta, cost much less to manufacture, sold for similar,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">made much more money for the retailer, and offered</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">an okay, predictable product. Even at our favorite</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">co-op, that has neatly driven all the old mom-and-pops</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">out of the game long long ago. (well, not all, there</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">are still some around, but even they feed the rei</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">maw, selling msr/pur/etc) margins matter. Get something</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">nearly as good, but at a much better price point, and</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">the 'consumer' will go for it. Hook, line and sinker.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And that's okay, because most folks never actually use</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">this stuff.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A petzl headlamp, and a princeton headlamp. Similar product,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">similar price. One made in europe, by folks with a standard</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">of living similar to that of the folks who buy it, one</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">made by folks who don't. which has a better margin?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Even Chaco now makes it's stuff in the pac rim. They</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">were really expensive, but at least I had some confidence</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">that the folks who made them, knew what they were for. Now,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">it's all about the brand.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I look high and low for stuff made by small shops, dedicated</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">to the task of putting out stuff that works. I'm not all that</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">interested in supporting the co-op anymore. Haven't been for</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">years really.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I can still get Peter Storm sweaters, if you know what I mean,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">lemme know, and I'll tell you where. Yes, they are still made,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and they are still good.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Some other folks:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.rivendellmountainworks.com/">www.rivendellmountainworks.com</a></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.northwerks.com/">www.northwerks.com</a></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.featheredfriends.com/">www.featheredfriends.com</a></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.warmlite.com/">www.warmlite.com</a></span><br /><a href="http://%20www.junglehammock.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">www.junglehammock.com</span></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />plenty more.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In the end, I learn more about the gear by talking</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">to the folks who make it, than the folks who</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">sell it. If there is no talk to the folks who make</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">it, maybe that's an issue. It is for me anyway.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rather buy from a shop that *doesn't* pay a nickle</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">to madison ave, than one that does. But that's just</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">me.</span><br /><br />Now, to the initial point of day packs, I still have the day pack I bought from the original poster at his shop all those long decades ago. It was made by Eagle Creek, which at the time, wasn't really a brand, was stuff made by folks who used it. It is a classic open top with pocket flap. The straps are wool felt padded leather, sewn to flat webbing, american made fastec fasteners with good hinge pins on grommets. Made of ballistic nylon (not 'cordura) and a leather bottom and crampon/ski patches and a real ice axe loop and diamond. *NOT* doodads. Functional stuff. 2 winters ago, before a trip up to the UP, I took some time to hand stitch up some of the seams that had come loose after all the years, and treat the leather for the first time ever. And by the way, I paid $90 for it, THEN.<br /><br />As to doodads, creeping feature-ism (feeping creaturism) here's another blog<br /><a href="http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2009/04/bicycle-gearing-rant.html">http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2009/04/bicycle-gearing-rant.html</a><br /><br />And as a footnote, another vendor who simply just 'does it right', in pretty much every way one can imagine. Why anyone uses anything else is a mystery to me.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rivrstyx.com/">www.rivrstyx.com</a><br /><br />Well, okay, sure. There is no mass merchandising of stuff like this, so how could folks use it if they don't know about it? Fair enough.<br /><br />Update:<br /><br />The afore mentioned 'well respected equipment designer/builder' emailed me with a followup to the email that started all this, he had this to say:<br /><br /><pre wrap="">From an industry insider's perspective your commentary is right on. Knock off and quality step downs happen all the time and are bean counter choices, guys who never get out who don't know how the difference between excellent and good can mean life or death in some circumstances... like.... try undoing knots in an ice storm with no gloves or fire, you know, small stuff that really matters sometimes.</pre>Amen.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-27029797584384674752009-03-17T09:34:00.005-04:002009-03-18T06:34:47.844-04:00Big Dummy at Hypnocoffee<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/6536338_w3GwB#492536721_p2vTu-XL-LB"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/492536721_p2vTu-S.jpg" alt="Surly Big Dummy" border="0" /></a><br />It's pretty clear now that there is an outbreak of Surly itis up in the little mountain town of Davis, WV.<br /><br />Pretty much the domain of fully sprung aluminum mountain bikes, more 29er lefties per capita than anywhere else on earth I'll bet, with a nice sprinkling of hard core roadies tossed in for good measure, a second Surly has mysteriously appeared.<br /><br />Our dear purveyor of <a href="http://hypnocoffee.blogspot.com/">liquid stimulants</a> might not be the usual suspect when it comes to laid back slow-riding, it's actually rather apparent in the two wheelers in his stable. He related to me the spill he took on the very nice old '84 or so Specialized Stumpjumper whilst carrying groceries and 3 gallons of milk, that left him covered in milk and generally humiliated while en-route to open the shop one AM. Obviously something even less twitchy than an old-school mtb was called for. The old relaxed Trek wasn't up to it either. Enter the wonderful Surly creation, <a href="http://www.surlybikes.com/bd_comp.html">Big Dummy</a>. Big, slow, relaxed, gentle, civilized. Complete with a proper Brooks saddle. Most folks won't get it, but I certainly do.<br /><br />Lovingly built up by cussed bike craftsman, Roger Lilly of <a href="http://www.blackwaterbikes.com/">Blackwater Bikes</a>, I think it makes a fine 'second' Surly for Davis, hopefully, the start of a trend.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.daviswv.net/cpm/slides/slide_dsc00625.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://www.daviswv.net/cpm/slides/slide_dsc00625.jpg" alt="Surly Pugsley" border="0" /></a><br /><br />(Roger, building up Pugsley a while back)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-81733858254491012292009-01-31T13:22:00.016-05:002009-01-31T17:39:47.809-05:00Happy Birthday To Me<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/3612154_tVZhi#465039520_Y3Pod-M-LB"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 75px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/465039520_Y3Pod-Ti.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />What can I say? It's my birthday. Had breakfast with my dear friend, neighbor and landlord all rolled up into one. How good is that? Blessing #1. Breakfast was served by really nice and fun folks, Blessing #2. Breakfast cooked by good neighbor and proprietor of the neighboring business, Bright Morning Inn, more blessings. How much better could a birthday get?<br /><br />Dunno, it was what? maybe 12, maybe 14 or so degrees(f) after breakfast. Set out, by my lone, off to Blackwater Falls state park, down the the west end, near Lindy Point. Bought my day pass, like a good citizen, and started off down the road towards Lindy Point.<br /><br />I dunno about you, but I get kinda tired and rather bored skiing down a road. It's probably because I don't skate ski, and neither does my equipment. I don't kick and glide for much more than 100 feet or so either. I guess that's because I'm lazy. So, I broke off the road, and headed off through the woods 'off piste' pretty soon.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/3612154_tVZhi#465039524_rwHEC-S-LB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/465039524_rwHEC-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> My neighbor, and Mark and Claire, and maybe some other folks went off to ski from Cabin Mountain over to <a href="http://www.whitegrass.com">Whitegrass</a>, but I wanted to be alone. What was that line? Out of "On The Loose" by Jerry and Renny Russell? Umm (I got it down off the shelf just now) Oh yeah, here it is:<br /><br />Are you all by yourself?" asked the man and<br /> and his wife as suddenly I cruched through<br /> the spring snow past their house trailer:<br />"Are you all by yourself?" asked the gull.<br />"Are you all by yourself?" asked the stars.<br />If a man is all by himself on this miraculous<br /> earth, a neighbor is no help.<br /><br> heh, and I have great neighbors. more blessings.<br />I haven't gotten used to blogger's formatting yet. Maybe I never will.<br><br />that said; Up onto the shoulder of the mountain, then down again. Through the blueberry glades and swamp land. Following a little draw, being particularly careful to keep my skis from getting wet. What a brilliant day. I met some others out there gently breaking track through the snow that you really would not want to step into off your skis. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/3612154_tVZhi#465039491_FrX4r-L-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/465039491_FrX4r-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> We have a saying about the 'best skiing day ever'. But since I was by myself, it's not the best skiing day ever, but it pretty strongly resembled it. There was an aspect missing that precludes a proper BSDE event.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/449435496_xAKd3-M.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 75px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/449435496_xAKd3-Ti.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> That's okay though. Bless her, she's home trying to beat back the winter cruds before the <a href="http://www.pasafarming.org">P.A.S.A.</a> conference next week.<br><br />So, what was I saying? Oh yeah, up there and then back down again. Didn't even fall down. Gentle tracks down along the little water course. I gotta tell ya, I really love this place, all closed in for the winter. It's a special spot. I'd try and make some point here, but it's my birthday, and I'm not going to do it. Just enjoy the day.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/gallery/3612154_tVZhi#465039473_BiquT-XL-LB"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/465039473_BiquT-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> A few hours of this snappingly sharp, bright and cold beauty is all my muddled old head can take. That, and my knees, ankles and lower back :), so back to the car, and back out to town to sit down and write this all up to share with anyone who wants to know. It was big fun. So, Happy Birthday to Me. And thanks.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/465039462_Tucjn-S.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 200px;" src="http://cpm01.smugmug.com/photos/465039462_Tucjn-S.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />P.S.<br />By request; An older 'happy bd to me' read:<br /><a href="http://www.eruditium.org/pete/shaversagain.html">http://www.eruditium.org/pete/shaversagain.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-8324871231230093002008-11-20T08:28:00.005-05:002009-03-18T06:55:32.960-04:00"If you design the roads with people in mind,"they* might obey the laws more.<br /><br />*They, being drivers.<br /><br />Interesting idea, seems to have some traction.<br /><br />"that's very much what we're seeing"<br /> --Janette Sadik-Khan<br /> Commissioner Dept of Transportation<br /> New York City<br /><br />Very interesting video, maybe there is hope?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/transforming-nyc-streets-with-jsk/">http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/transforming-nyc-streets-with-jsk/</a><br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="369" width="450" data="http://www.streetfilms.org/flvplayer.swf"><param name="movie" value="http://www.streetfilms.org/flvplayer.swf" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><param name="flashvars" value="displayheight=349&file=http://www.streetfilms.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/janette-sk-vs-mark-gorton_768k_copy.flv&image=http://www.streetfilms.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/mark-vs-jsk-poster.png&overstretch=true&showfsbutton=false&showdigits=true&backcolor=0x22313c&frontcolor=0xbfced8&lightcolor=0xc1d72e&volume=90&autostart=false&logo=http://www.streetfilms.org/wp-content/themes/woonerf/images/streetfilms-watermark.png&link=http://www.streetfilms.org&title=Transforming NYC Streets: A Conversation with Janette Sadik-Khan OFFSITE&id=1163&callback=http://www.streetfilms.org/wp-content/plugins/streetfilms/statistics.php" /></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711779878985749817.post-20611646379746242022008-11-13T06:57:00.004-05:002008-11-13T09:36:17.310-05:00An open letter to the president electApparently the Obama transition website welcomes your input and has a<br />handy way for you to get a message to the transition team.<br /><br />I've got no earthly idea if any of this will go anywhere other than<br />into that gigantic internet mail shredder in the sky, but I've never<br />seen it attempted before, listening to what folks had to say that<br />is.<br /><br />So, here's the URL:<br /><br /><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision">http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision</a><br /><br /><br />Here's what I wrote, guess this is an open letter to the<br />president:<br /><br />--<br /><br /><br />As one of Reagan's cold war soldiers, I was stationed in Europe, Germany<br />specifically in the mid-80s. I was something of a bicycle enthusiast<br />well before that, having been caught up in the bike-boom of the mid-70s.<br />I rode a fair amount, not a lot, but a reasonable amount all things<br />considered. I also loved to drive, and driving around Europe in the<br />mid-80s was a true joy. I bought my fuel on the 'economy', so I knew<br />quite well what 'high' fuel prices were, a lot more so than most of my<br />fellow Americans.<br /><br />In 1990 I think, under President George H. Bush, I settled in one night<br />to listen to the president describe the 20 year transportation plan. I<br />knew what he was going to say, but I was really looking forward to<br />hearing him say it. You see, I had already seen it. In Western Europe. I<br />was going to listen to the president describe how<br />we the people were going to fuel a rebirth of the rail industry, because<br />it's the most fuel efficient way to transport goods. I was going to hear<br />the president describe how we were going to fuel<br />incentives to stop ripping up our incredibly valuable agricultural land<br />in the east to plant more shopping malls and condos, while<br />destroying what's left of the arid west with insane and unsustainable<br />irrigation plans, in order to grow the food closer<br />to where it was needed, in a better and healthier way, thereby<br />cutting down on the needless and crazy storage and transportation<br />costs. I was going to hear the president describe how we the people<br />were going to fuel incentives to get people to co-locate housing<br />and office space so folks could walk to work, walk to the grocery,<br />walk to movies, walk to the entertainment, improving our health,<br />reducing our growing (even then) health care costs. I was going to<br />hear our president describe how we the people were going to embrace<br />bicycling, walking, and light rail to move around, and heavy high speed<br />rail to travel. I was going to hear the president describe how we were<br />going to stop just burying our natural resources under asphalt, and<br />where roadways and lots were actually needed, they would be constructed<br />with paving stone and concrete<br />in a Western European fashion, spend the money up front, so we didn't<br />have a failing system as time went on. We were going to<br />stop burning lights all night long, replace our massive fleets of<br />semi trucks that are destroying our vital interstate highway system<br />with lighter lorries and move much more freight on rails. Further,<br />I was going to hear our president say we were going to pay ourselves<br />back for these incentives by radically increasing road<br />fuel taxes once the the newer transportation infrastructures were<br />approaching feasibility. Driving would become fun again, the highways<br />safer, the people healthier, happier, the food more plentiful and<br />nutritional. More people would learn real trades<br />and skills, farm life -which built our country, and formed our<br />constitutional law- would again be respected. We would stop<br />destroying our natural places, our forests, our wild places in<br />order to fuel growth for growths sake, just for a quick buck<br />that never comes back. No longer would travel to distant<br />places be the horror of air travel, but the more civilized, and<br />social pleasures of travel by rail.<br /><br />Imagine my surprise when the president, who certainly knew everything I<br />knew, had seen what I have seen, and was smarter<br />than I, (he was the president, wasn't he?) described 20 more<br />years of giveaways to the oil companies and highway construction<br />cartels. Imagine my disappointment in the complete and total<br />lack of vision. I was sure that The United States of America<br />was going to lead the way into the 21st century with a vision<br />of continental infrastructure that would reach far into the future,<br />centuries into the future. Instead, I was handed a vision of the<br />US that would leave us at the end of the 20th century with a broken<br />country.<br /><br />My vision for the country? get us started in the direction that will<br />take to where we should have been, and would have been, had<br />we had to vision in our leadership at the time.<br /><br />--------<br /><br />yeah, yeah, I know. But give me a break, I just dashed this out<br />in the online form. Not like I spent all night on it. Sure,<br />sentence structure problems, unclear predicate references and<br />all that. So, you do better, okay?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0