It snowed yesterday. It snowed last night. It’s snowing again this morning. We currently have 6 or 7 inches of snow on the ground. For New Hampshire, that’s nothing; for Tennessee that’s crippling. The entire region has declared a snow day. Schools closed yesterday. Government offices are closed. Most businesses are closed, those that are open are running on skeleton crews. The road crews are pleading with folks to stay home: stay off the roads so they can get them cleared. Stuck vehicles just slow them down. We’ll just hunker in and make the most of it. The dogs will enjoy this special play day with both of us here.
Author: Doug
De-Fanging the Credit Monster
After the economic crunch we have been through in recent years I don’t need to tell you, Dear Reader, that living eyebrow deep in credit card debt is a bad idea. At one time it was considered the norm – almost a status symbol. Now more and more people are seeing that reducing this debt is beneficial. Some time ago I wrote about how to slay the credit card dragons in The Economics of Simple Living.
Today I want to briefly reiterate the benefits of living credit free. You will note that I did not say credit CARD free – for indeed we do still have a couple of credit cards. If one plans to live in this modern society, having at least one active credit card is a necessity unless you go into “survivalist” mode. Continue reading “De-Fanging the Credit Monster”
WHAT WE HAVE AND WHO WE ARE
Some people come into the world with a tremendous financial advantage. Their forebears have provided them with substantial resources. Some folk make the most of it and live productive lives. Others squander their inheritance by reckless mismanagement. It is no crime to enter into life with a prosperous endowment. There is nothing wrong with having one’s life fully funded. It is a sin, however, to abuse one’s advantage. To whom much has been given much is required. There is a stewardship of life which expects us to do the best we can with what we have. There is such a thing as responsible abundance. Affluent folk are uniquely blessed with many avenues of special service to humankind. No matter what our status at birth we have a lifetime to establish our worth. We sometimes refer to people entering life with an abundance of material resources as having been born “with silver spoons in their mouths.” Perhaps most of us feel as if we were born with “rusty spoons” in our mouths. We certainly brought nothing into the world. We had little offered us on arrival and we are leaving very little behind in terms of material wealth. Nonetheless, we are trying to do the best we can with what we have. Whatever good, whatever bad, whatever rich, whatever poor, whatever great, and whatever small there is about us, we are primarily responsible.
The kind of spoon with which we were born need not determine the quality of our contribution. Just as it is no crime to be rich, it is no crime to be poor unless our poverty is a poverty of soul. God has created us with the freedom to be the best we can be with the set of circumstances life has imposed upon us. He does not require us to build a financial fortune. He expects us to be fruitful and multiply. He wants the spot we inhabit on planet earth to be productive.
God desires that we use our creative energies in positive ways. Whether we come into the world with a “silver spoon” or a “rusty spoon” we still have a purpose. We start from where we are and move to where we can be by the grace of God. Neither riches nor poverty is an excuse for lazy living. Yet, it is not ours to harshly judge the poor or the rich without knowing the circumstances. We take hold of that bit of life we have been given and pursue the richness of God’s possibilities for us. Our investment is called “commitment.” His return is called “contentment.” No matter what kind of spoon from which we eat, we are either nourished or impoverished by what we digest.
This Writer’s Home: Our Bungalow, What and Why
The home Marie and I built here on our mountainside property is a bungalow. No, not a dung beetle, not a buffalo, a bungalow.
Initially we were certain we wanted a genuine log home, because they just look so GOOD tucked back into the woods and because their solid log walls are touted as being highly thermally efficient. So I researched the various species and shapes of logs used, construction methods, benefits and drawbacks. I read many personal tales of folks who had built a log home, what worked, what went wrong, and how they felt about it years later. In the end we abandoned the log home idea for several reasons:
Continue reading “This Writer’s Home: Our Bungalow, What and Why”
Recycling Glass: A Clear Advantage
Humans did not invent glass making: long before humans learned the secret, nature was making glass. When lightning struck sand it melted it into long, thin tubes of glass. Erupting volcanoes melted rocks and sand into glass. Humans found this naturally made glass and improved the process. The earliest glass made by humans was probably a glaze on ceramic pottery made somewhere around 3,000 B.C.
Today sand, soda ash, lime, and sometimes gypsum or dolomite are melted together in large furnaces to over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit until the mixture becomes a syrupy mass. While malleable it can be shaped by blowing to make hollow vessels, drawing into sheets or tubes, pressing into a mold, or sculpting things with globs of hot glass.
Colored glass is produced by adding small amounts of natural elements to the molten glass. For instance, brown glass is made by adding iron, sulfur and carbon to the mix.
Producing virgin glass takes less energy than does producing metal or plastic and glass recycles endlessly without losing any of its strength. Also, glass containers are far more stable than plastic or metal containers so they do not leech or out-gas anything into the food they contain and glass containers can be safely reused over and over.
Crushed recycled glass is called ‘cullet’. The proportion of cullet in new glass can be as high as 90%. Cullet melts at a lower temperature so for every 10% of cullet in the glass mix, the factory can use 2% less energy to produce the same quality of glass.
While glass is made from all naturally occurring materials, nature cannot recover glass through decomposition as it will with some other products. If dumped into a landfill, glass will remain there, taking up space, forever – OK, a million years or so: pretty much forever. Because it does not contain or release any toxins, it is safe to dispose of glass this way, but trashing glass removes a valuable resource from the materials chain.
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The Ups and Downs of Mountain Living, Part 3
This is part three of my on-going yammer about life in the mountains. In Part 1 we looked at getting established, in Part 2 we looked at the physical necessities of life here. This time we’ll look as the more esoteric aspects.
In east Tennessee winters are normally pretty mild. This winter has been an exception: in early January we hit an overnight low of minus 1° F, the lowest temperature in 20 years. My relatives in Nebraska and Colorado laugh at me, saying that’s a balmy spring day to them. We have been spoiled by the normally temperate weather we enjoy so much here. Aside from this year’s cold, we do have some special challenges.
One is that temperatures vary with elevation. Newport sprawls out along the Pigeon River on the floor of the valley and is around 1,050 feet elevation. At 6,593 feet, Mount LeConte is the highest point in our immediate area (we can see it from our front porch) and the difference in temperature between there and Newport can be dramatic. There are dozens and dozens of other mountain peaks that range between 1,500 and 4,000 feet.
After a snow, we often have continued school closings on days when the roads in Newport are clear and the weather seems fine. This is to accommodate the people who live in those higher elevations where it has not warmed up enough for things to start melting off. Road ice is the major issue.
CONVICTION WITH COURTESY
Why is it that some folk in their attempt to defend what they consider to be a Godly view of something, act so ungodly in their support of it? Why do they choose to be discourteous and crude in the affirmation of their convictions? To hear some church folk talk it sounds like they would half kill anyone who disagreed with their views. What has happened to the spirit of Jesus who taught us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves and would not permit Simon to fight for Him? Personal views are weak, no matter how correct they are, when they have to be defended by ugliness and a spirit of contention. Such harsh argumentation reveals not so much an interest in God’s view but in promoting the pride of one’s own thought. A sinful ego cannot face another point of view without a fight. Insecurity of thought will always create an argumentative attitude. Someone who is comfortable in his or her own theological skin will be courteous in the presentation of his or her convictions. There will be kindness in disagreement.
The truth of the matter is when one has a Godly viewpoint he or she will also have a Godly attitude. When one is thoroughly immersed in the truth of God he or she has nothing to prove only something to share. A Christian witness is one whose disposition verifies the accuracy of stated convictions. It will always be open, however, to other revelations as the Holy Spirit leads. Our earnest prayer, therefore, is for meekness even as He gives us courage.
Driving Through Life
Life is like driving a car. There are many, many things vying for your attention, some of them important, some of them best ignored. Knowing which is which is key.
Among the most important is the road ahead. Look as far down it as you can and watch for signs of trouble. By seeing a potential problem ahead of time you can slow down, look it over, and steer around it safely.
Watch for the signs and signals posted along the way. They are there to guide you. When you reach a cross-road, be alert for traffic which may not yield to you, and know which way you need to turn. Driving around aimlessly is not likely to get you to your destination.
It is good to glance in the rear view mirror from time to time to keep tabs on what’s behind you, but don’t focus on it. Becoming fixated on analyzing the past will only blind you to what’s ahead and cause a collision with something you could have easily avoided had you been paying attention.
God is the trustworthy traffic reporter hovering high above. He sees all the roads and crossroads, knows where the trouble is and how to get around it. Tune Him in and He’ll advise you on how to avoid the snarls and frustrations of life. Tune Him out and you won’t know you’re heading for trouble until you’re caught up in it with no way around.
If you remain aware of what’s behind you, but focus on what’s ahead and stay open to advice from above, life will be much more simple and you’re more likely to arrive at your chosen destination safe and sound.
Rooted in Minimalism
As you know, Dear Reader, I have recently been looking at and talking about the concepts of minimalism. While I can not currently claim membership in that club, it is the direction in which I’m moving, and it occurs to me that it is the direction from whence I came. Yes, I was once a certifiable minimalist – long before it was popular, before there was a fancy nameplate to hang on one’s door to announce it to the world. It was just the way it was. No; I didn’t grow up in the Great Depression, it was something far stranger than that.
You see, it began in childhood. We were an Air Force family and the government has never been any too generous with Non-Com pay rates. My parent’s always saw that the 4 of us young’uns had what we needed, but frills were few. Don’t get me wrong; we weren’t raised in a packing crate or anything, we were comfortable and happy. The only time I ever felt even a little deprived was when a friend came to school wearing a pair of the latest tennis shoes – you know, the ones that make you run like the wind and allow you to leap over small buildings in a single bound, I’d feel a twinge of envy. But it passed quickly. My parents raised us with better values than that. They taught us to find contentment in what we had. More or less! Continue reading “Rooted in Minimalism”
Spiritual Athletes
Sports are a big part of the American way of life. We admire athletes for their drive, their determination, their dedication to the game, and the contribution they make to their team and to the sport as a whole. And these are good things.
Christians Are Like Athletes
The Christian life is a lot like the life of an athlete. In fact this comparison is drawn several times in the Bible. I Corinthians 9:24, Galatians 2:2, and 5:7, and Hebrews 12:1 all use running a race as an allusion for the Christian life. Let’s look more closely at one of these. Continue reading “Spiritual Athletes”