...then said I, here am I; send me.

2012-01-11T05:41:00.000-08:00

While working on his master’s degree, my grandfather needed to learn more about a particular concept and asked his advising professor for some good references he could look up. His professor said that he had no suggestions, and that my grandfather should search the academic literature, thus sending him on his way to look for pertinent journal articles (before the days of computers). Some time and much work later, when another professor who had been out of town returned, my grandfather asked him the same question. This second professor looked a little puzzled and said that certainly the best place to start would be a bundle of journal article reprints that the first professor had from the work of a previous graduate student. Returning to his adviser, my grandfather asked about the reprints and, without getting up from his chair, the adviser reached over and pulled out a massive folder of reprints that were all related the subject my grandfather was trying to research.

As children of God we have certain resources at our fingertips that some of the people around us are searching for; inner peace, the power that comes through prayer, confidence in what the future ultimately holds, etc. Yet, sometimes we are like my grandfather’s advisor and, for whatever reason, send away the people that are searching for the very things our Father has given us to share. Like my grandfather, these people may not know what resources are available and thus cannot, at least at first, ask for them by name... but we still have a responsibility.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”

(I Peter 3:15)

Counter

2011-07-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

Before

After

I was asked to build a counter in the lab where systems physiology and cellular & molecular biology are taught - here is what I came up with. My understanding is that a moveable cart will be put back in front of the door (it is a rarely used access to the roof) and the other spectrophotometers/computers from the first picture (or their replacements?) will go on the counter.

*I find it humorous that the last time this room was painted the electrical conduit was not painted behind some moveable object as can be seen in the second picture.

Lessons from Canoeing

2011-07-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Lessons learned from hundreds of miles of canoeing – primarily in the wilderness of the Canadian Shield.

When paddling, it is the goal we choose that determines the journey we take and not the direction of the current. Pursuing this goal may require paddling upstream and at times we come to places where the opposing current is too strong to resist – here we must take to the wilderness, and from there we can either carry our cargo around or, with our feet on solid rock, pull it through.

Sometimes the current moves toward our goal – but it is then that we are in the greatest danger of being swept into rough water, or, calmly but swiftly drifting past on the opposite bank from the mouth of the next river in our journey – or simply losing track of where we are in relation to the map. For these and other reasons we must carefully and frequently study the map as well as paying attention to the landmarks around us and consulting with those who have done the journey before. It is especially important to study the map before making changes to the planned route since alluring deceptions abound. By studying our map we will be aware of the dangers ahead and be better prepared to negotiate them. Once again, when facing a stretch of rough water, take to the wilderness, study your map, and plan the best route through or around the rapids.

It is customary for those traveling downstream in water that is calm and deep to accumulate extra baggage - but when water is rough or shallow (or worse yet, both) or a portage is in order these niceties can bog us down and slow not only our progress but also that of our companions as we journey toward the Goal.

Lessons from GIS

2011-06-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

It just wouldn’t go where it was supposed to! I had a drawing of building footprints (made with CAD software) that I was supposed to superimpose on an aerial photo of the exact same buildings for my geographic information systems (GIS) class – I could rotate the drawing, I could move it around a little bit, but I wanted to make it line up with the buildings that were on my map of a college campus in Pennsylvania (where they belonged). Instead, the building footprints were somewhere in the vicinity of Kentucky and facing the wrong direction.

I tried doing everything that should have moved it, searched for tips on the web, and blindly hunted through various tabs and toolbars trying anything that looked vaguely promising without any better results. It was like setting two marbles down on opposite ends of a table and subsequently not being able to move one of them more than an inch in any direction.

Upwards of two frustrating hours later, on my third or fourth time starting over from scratch, I happened to try clicking a different checkbox during the process of importing the troublesome file. This proved to be the key which allowed me to move the drawing onto my map from where I could adjust it to make it line up with the buildings.

In my exercise I had two, fully formed pictures which I needed to reconcile. I could zoom in to each one to view it in more detail and it was easy to see how the details ought to line up if one drawing could be moved, resized, and reoriented.

As a student of biology who believes that the Bible is the inspired word of God I am in a similar situation. It is as though I have two pictures of this world’s change through time to the way it presently appears. However, unlike the layers in my GIS assignment, both of these pictures are largely incomplete. Both pictures are supported by evidence I myself have seen and experienced, yet I have not been able to reconcile them very well in any meaningful way.

In another GIS assignment I ended up with countless map layers which, although interesting, and even useful for generating predictions, did not end up being necessary for the final project... and if one of these had been difficult, or even impossible to align with the others it would have been of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.

In a similar way to this second assignment I believe that our mission here in this life does not require us to reconcile all available opinions but rather, that the data needed to complete life’s assignment is all available from a single source.

2011-05-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

I received a phone call yesterday in which a guy in his early thirties whom I’ve never met before was requesting the phone numbers of single females I knew – preferably the “homemaker” type since he has several children. He had two names in mind of girls my age and younger (for whom I actually did have the numbers) and suggested that I could think of a few more... I declined in short order to give out contact information for any of my many “sisters” to a stranger - but if any of you are disappointed with that decision I could arrange for him to contact you.

Electron Microscopy Part II - the SEM

2011-04-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

The face of an ant

The face of a Gnat

The face of a flea

Electron Microscopy

2011-03-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

Capillary cross section with a red blood cell in it (8,900 x magnification)

Skeletal muscle in which you can see the various bands as well as multiple mitochondria near the "Z lines" (15,500 x magnification)

You've Asked Me This Before

2011-01-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

While fueling up at a gas station in South Bend yesterday I noticed a man approaching me. Deep in the recesses of my brain I thought he looked familiar but I couldn’t place him until he began to speak. With a unique nasal tone in his voice and obsequious mannerisms he began by saying “this is really embarrassing, I never thought this would happen to me...” and in a few words explained how he had run out of gas and was hoping I could spare some change to help him get to St. Joseph (about 30 miles away). Without a trace of remorse I flatly told him “No – you’ve asked me this before.” The expression on his face as he withdrew, stammering that he was pretty sure he had never been in this situation before, was one of the most amusing I have seen. Yet later I wondered If I should have taken a different approach.

Several weeks ago I was leaving Wall Mart in Benton Harbor and was approached by this same individual with the exact same phrases, tone of voice, and mannerisms (except that he was going to Niles; also a 30 mile trip). I have always been leery to give money directly to beggars for fear that its use would not be a wise investment of the Lord’s money. Nonetheless, ever wanting to help, I offered to put some gas in his car figuring that, true story or not, at least he wouldn’t use it for alcohol or drugs. I was startled when he refused this offer and again asked for money using the excuse that there was no gas station right where we were. I pointed out to him that he would need to go to a gas station to get gas anyway, and that the nearest one was less than half a mile away. After a couple more excuses as to why money would be better than gasoline (each less convincing than the previous one) I left him.

How can you help someone like this? It seems like it would be much easier if a person were honest in their request. If someone is holding a sign “will work for food” and they accept food or work with grateful enthusiasm then it would be much easier to justify spending time and resources to help them out of a difficult situation... but what if, as is often (if not usually) the case, this kind of sign is not an honest representation of their goal and they merely use it to get cash handouts? Certainly they still need help – perhaps more than an “honest” beggar... but they may not want or even know what sort of help they need.

Sometimes I find myself asking God for things that I think I want and then not being as appreciative as I should of what he offers me (if indeed I recognize and appreciate it at all). Despite my ingratitude He continues to reach out to me and to instill in my heart a desire for what He knows I really need.

How can I follow this example next time an “embarrassed” man with a nasal voice asks me for change?

Mammalogy Project

2010-12-12T05:54:00.001-08:00

For one of the projects in Mammalogy class this semester, another student and I decided to conduct a survey of the ground-dwelling small mammals of a local nature center and park. We set live traps in three different habitats and discovered that Peromyscus species are abundant everywhere (there are two species, P. leucopus and P. maniculatus, the white footed mouse and the deer mouse, respectively, which both live in this area but are exceedingly difficult to differentiate without doing molecular or biochemical work - based on morphological characteristics though, we think that most, if not all, of the ones we caught were likely P. leucopus, but we can't be certain). We also caught several Northern Short-tail shrews and a single jumping mouse but were not rewarded with captures of any other types of shrews, harvest mice, moles, voles or bog-lemmings.

While I was washing out the traps after the project was over my grandparents' cat brought me a meadow vole - one of the species we had hoped to catch but didn't... although dead, its skin was not badly damaged so I brought it to school and stuffed it for a study skin to put in our museum.

Zapus Hudsonius/Meadow Jumping Mouse

Tallgrass meadow in which we had the most captures of any habitat

Peromyscus species - lovingly referred to by us as Promiscuous due to their abundance... and then if it is running away from a fox it becomes a "chaste Promiscuous"

Our friendly forest guardian

Survey Results

2010-10-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

Survey results were tabulated for twenty-three women most of whom were undergraduate university students. Each individual was asked to circle as many reasons as they thought applicable as to why women wear high heels. These choices were then weighted based on the total number of choices each individual selected; in other words if someone circled twelve of the available reasons they were marked down as giving one twelfth of their vote to each of the reasons they circled. These "weighted" choices were then tallied and used to rank the reasons as they appear below. In this way one vote by a person who carefully selected a small number of reasons can carry more weight than three votes by people who each selected many reasons (see # 15 for example). The actual number of (non-weighted) choices gives a similar but not identical ranking order and these numbers are included in parentheses for comparison.

5. They appear attractive in a “sexy” way (19)
1. They make one appear taller (19)
8. They promote a posture/body shape that appears attractive in a “sexy” way (17)
4. They appear attractive in a “classy” way (18)
2. They make one appear more sophisticated (17)
7. They promote a posture/body shape that appears attractive in a “classy” way (14)
16. It is expected for females conforming with society to wear them (10)
13. The sound they make on a hard surface draws attention (10)
11. They elevate one’s visual vantage point (8)
20. They are an efficient and/or legal way to carry a weapon (6)
15. They make one appear helpless/needy (like foot binding by the ancient Chinese) (1)
14. The sound they make on a hard is pleasant/attractive to others (3)
25. Wearing them has a positive effect on the weather (3)
21. They help to aerate lawns (2)
10. They promote a posture that is healthful (3)
6. They appear attractive in a natural/innocent way (3)
9. They promote a posture/body shape that appears attractive in a natural/innocent way (3)
12. They make one appear vain (2)
18. They are comfortable (2)
24. They provide good grip on slippery or icy surfaces (2)
17. They strengthen one’s ankle muscles (in practice for ice skating?) (1)
23. They are good detectors of cheap flooring by punching holes (1)
3. They make one appear more “down to earth” (1)
19. They are financially economical to purchase (1)
22. They allow one to locate cracks/holes in a sidewalk without looking (0)

High Heels

2010-10-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

After a discussion I got into recently I have decided to satisfy my curiosity on a matter I have often puzzled over: Why on earth do so many girls wear high heels? The following is a survey I plan to give out to a few friends and thought I would make it available for those I am not likely to see in the near future as well - you can leave a comment with the numbers you would "circle" on a paper survey as well as any additional reasons I may have overlooked.

I have always been baffled by high heels and have never been able to figure out what purpose they serve. For this reason I have assembled the following survey, to be taken by those of the female persuasion, as to why you, as a group, sometimes choose to strap yourselves into these contraptions. What I am asking for is your perception of the main reasons why most girls choose to wear heels which may or may not reflect your personal thoughts on the subject.

Please circle all that apply:

1. They make one appear taller
2. They make one appear more sophisticated
3. They make one appear more “down to earth”
4. They appear attractive in a “classy” way
5. They appear attractive in a “sexy” way
6. They appear attractive in a natural/innocent way
7. They promote a posture/body shape that appears attractive in a “classy” way
8. They promote a posture/body shape that appears attractive in a “sexy” way
9. They promote a posture/body shape that appears attractive in a natural/innocent way
10. They promote a posture that is healthful
11. They elevate one’s visual vantage point
12. They make one appear vain
13. The sound they make on a hard surface draws attention
14. The sound they make on a hard is pleasant/attractive to others
15. They make one appear helpless/needy (like foot binding by the ancient Chinese)
16. It is expected for females conforming with society to wear them
17. They strengthen one’s ankle muscles (in practice for ice skating?)
18. They are comfortable
19. They are financially economical to purchase
20. They are an efficient and/or legal way to carry a weapon
21. They help to aerate lawns
22. They allow one to locate cracks/holes in a sidewalk without looking
23. They are good detectors of cheap flooring by punching holes
24. They provide good grip on slippery or icy surfaces
25. Wearing them has a positive effect on the weather

Graduate school

2010-09-07T04:57:00.000-07:00

In some ways I feel as though I have become the black sheep of the blogging world since I have not posted anything for so long despite the wide variety of things I have been up to.

I spent this summer working for a logger that is based here in Berrien Springs but due to the logging being slow I was able to learn far more than how to cut a tree (something I found I still needed to learn after years of cutting firewood, thinning timber, and, of course, clearing the rainforest in Peru). Besides logging, the guy I worked for does storm cleanup work (and always seems to be wishing for another “Katrina”) as well as selling log-length firewood. He also does or at least helps with larger tree service jobs. I spent the majority of my time either with a chainsaw (Stihl saws ranging from 44cc to 66cc with 32” bars) or in a tracked bobcat with a log grapple on it – but I also spent plenty of time sharpening chainsaws (he said I was the first person to work for him that could do it properly without extensive training) hand work, servicing equipment, trucking, and anything else that needed doing.

As the summer progressed I continued to pray and seek for God’s guidance as to what I should do next – as is sometimes the case it seemed as though He was being silent. I began to weigh options in my own head and had tentatively decided not to go back to school right away and figured I would work to pay off the school loan I had accrued in my last year of school and then go help out at some mission project. God, however, intended for me to return to school and as soon as I began telling people that I probably wouldn’t, He made quite clear that I should. Between what I was reading for my devotions, what I was reading for pleasure, my work, and my dialogue with the biology faculty it seemed that all of a sudden everything was pointing towards my returning for a master’s in biology. I have now embarked on a new chapter of life as a graduate student and so far am enjoying the change and grateful to know with certainty that I am where God wants me to be. I look forward to learning what He has in store for my life but right now I must do my best with what He has given me.

5T 87

2010-06-27T04:29:00.001-07:00

Your Savior will guide you into the position best suited to your talents and where you can be most useful.

#'s 37,38,39,40

2010-06-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

Colvin
Blake
Nippletop
Dial

10 hours
18+ miles
3 cliff bars
3.5 liters water
unlimited sunshine
0 ml blood donated to insects

perfect temperature (not too hot)

Sawteeth, #36 of 46

2010-06-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

Benefits of Fast Food

2010-04-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

"The more frequently you walk under the Golden Arches... the sooner you will reach the pearly gates."

-Quoted in class on 04/01/10

Distractions in Research

2010-04-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

In my research for a paper on Ginger for my medical botany class I found an interesting book in our library. It is a reprint of an Herbal that was originally published in 1633. The letters are interesting in that, in most places where we would put a lower case "s" they have what appears to be an "f" that only has the back part of the cross stroke on it and they also seem to have switched their "v" and "u". Here is part of the section on ginger:

"Ginger, as Difcorides reporteth, is right good with meate in fauces, or otherwife, in conditures: for it is of an heating and digefting qualitie; it gently loofeth the belly, and is profitable for the ftomacke, and effectually oppofeth it felfe againft all darkneffe of the fight; anfwering the qualities and effects of Pepper. It is to be confidered, That canded, greene or condited Ginger is hot and moift in qualitie, prouoking Venerie: and being dried, it heateth and drieth in the third degree."

I also found it interesting that the author made a note of how he had put the corals (which we now know to be the homes of colonial animals) next to the mosses even though there were some corals that the "old writers" had not described which grew with branching more like a shrub or tree. Also sea fans (a different type of cnidarian) were included as a type of "shrub."

The author also described the "Goose-barnacle" tree which I have heard about on several occasions as a ridiculous myth that was widely believed long ago. However the myth makes sense after having read his description. On our trip to Florida I was able to observe barnacles attached to the roots of mangrove trees - these barnacles are filter feeders that stick out feathery projections to filter the water which, with a small measure of imagination, could look like the wings of a young bird... thus the tree must "grow" the barnacles and the little birds inside must grow up into geese. The author backs up this story with his personal observations of seeing the young downy birds in their shells growing on trees.

Pictures from FL

2010-03-28T13:39:00.001-07:00

This sign is not a joke - in the everglades a topographic difference of a few inches means the difference between open water, marsh, hardwood hammock, or pinelands. This "pass" is the low spot in a very real topographic feature - a "ridge" of several feet covered with trees that runs through a sea of sawgrass and has the same effect on the sheet flow of water through this area as if it were the Himalayas.

After a couple hours with a four inch thick dichotomous key I was still unable to identify this mystery tree which I thought, due to its milky juice, would be easy to key out. On returning home my botany professor was able, given some time and the answers to a few questions, to identify it as Manilkara bahamensis (Sapotaceae family) and promptly got my permission to include the picture in the expanded CD that will come with the next edition of his textbook.

Once all was said and done this has been a great way to earn three credits that I needed to graduate. Several times along the trip we had people wherever we were camping comment on how quiet/well behaved we were... one of our professors commented that we weren't your typical group of college students going to Florida for spring break - we did have several coolers and were there to study biology... but our coolers had such things as fruit, milk, lettuce etc. and I think the biology we studied was a fair bit more academic.

To see the web pages that students have done in years past (and eventually mine once they get uploaded) click here.

Balance

2010-02-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I drove a trailer full of gymnastics paraphernalia up to Great Lakes Adventist Academy (GLAA) since our gymnastics team was doing a show there. Greg (my supervisor) was taking the team up with a coach and it was my job to drive a large (40' I think) enclosed trailer behind a Ford Excursion up to join them. While hooking up the tension bars on the trailer Greg suggested that we hook into the fifth link in the chains used for adjustment - I did the same on my side and then we put the tension on them. When I first started driving I realized that this was a big trailer for such a little truck and when I got on the highway the "tail" started to wag the "dog" as if my truck were being violently swung back and forth in the jaws of some giant monster. After slowing down and bringing things back under control I proceeded on my trip very carefully adjusting the steering wheel each time the trailer began weaving so that it was out of phase with the swing of the trailer and would not amplify the problem. At one point I pulled over and shortened the chains on the tension bars by one link to add more tension which seemed to make things a little better but I was still on edge for the rest of the trip. When hooking the trailer up for the return trip (we had taken the truck to go eat) I realized that Greg and I were counting links on the chain from opposite ends of the chain - it then made sense to me why, when I had adjusted them, one seemed so much tighter than the other even though the slope I was on should have had negligible effect. Once the bars were tensioned equally the trailer towed much smoother than it had before (even if it was still a lot of trailer for a little truck). This experience makes me wonder if there are things in my life which I keep trying to "tighten" far beyond where they should be when what I need to do is "balance" them.

Epilogue: After weighing the trailer and finding it was just 130 lbs shy of it's maximum legal weight I got to bed about midnight and then got up at 4:00 AM so I could study for a test in my hardest class.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Brother

2009-12-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

Sin, Evolution, and Parasites

2009-12-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

"…And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."

What would He say today? Is everything we see around us the way it was created in the Garden of Eden? Did He create a plant that can only get the nitrogen it needs by eating insects? Did He give wasps, jellyfish, and nettles their sting? What about parasitic organisms did He make them?

Consider one of the beautiful creatures from the Garden of Eden – the serpent. This creation which was beautiful before the fall, was cursed of God (Genesis 3:14) and thereby changed drastically in esteem, behavior, and, quite likely, morphology as well.

I have come to think of this as an example of the effects that sin can have even in a very short amount of time. It has also caused me to postulate that the presence of sin in the world causes directional selection away from God’s ideal. In addition, once the original creation was altered and became unbalanced, natural selection would also have been free to work thus exacerbating the problem and quickly steering life on this earth away from God’s plan at an ever increasing rate. As evil forces in the world continued to focus their influence to mar Gods creation it would not be unreasonable to expect results significantly different from what God would have created.

It seems that every “free living” species in the world today has at least a couple (and often dozens or hundreds) of parasitic species that live on or in it… and many of those parasites are parasitized themselves such that there can be several levels of parasites parasitizing other parasites. Not only are they the most plentiful creatures on earth but they cause an incalculable amount of suffering and death. What’s more is that they have some of the most intricate life cycles imaginable. Many parasites require development in two, three or even four different hosts often requiring unlikely events to pass from one stage of development to the next before they reach maturity.

One notable parasite, the lancet liver fluke, begins development only when eaten by a snail. Later, the young parasites are left behind the snail in its trail of slime as a little ball of mucus filled with juvenile parasites. To continue development this ball of slime must be eaten by an ant at which point one or two of the juveniles migrate to the brain where they alter the ants’ behavior while the others continue development in the ant. The altered behavior of the ant causes it to climb to the top of a plant during the night and hold on tightly with its jaws instead of going back to its colony. This allows it to be accidentally eaten by a browsing animal where the parasites complete development and pass their eggs on to start a new generation.

Another example is Trichenella spiralis (the cause of trichinosis) which can only pass to the next host when the flesh of an infected animal is eaten after which point the parasites invade cells in the new host and, much like a virus, hijack host cells causing them to do nothing but aid in the proliferation of more parasites.

Although it could be argued that some parasites may have originally been beneficial symbiotic organisms, much like some of the bacteria in our digestive tract. Many parasites, including the ones mentioned above, must have evolved not only their pathogenicity, but also their life cycle after sin entered the world. These evolutionary steps are larger than those I would have previously condoned (such as a fox learning to eat squirrels in addition to strawberries). Yet, due to the direction of changes that have been made away from their state in the Garden of Eden towards a more misery-causing state, I think I may know the culprit of what seems to be a significant amount of change.

Note: I am not suggesting that I know the degree to which any form of evolution has occurred in the history of our earth nor whether or not some change (gradual or otherwise) would have happened in the absence of sin – the thoughts above are merely some ideas of how it “may have been”

ISTJ

2009-08-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Christy's post and the increased talk of personalities after many of the staff took the test here at camp I took the test last night and determined that I am in fact what I thought I was (an ISTJ). Kristin had evidently just been telling Bekah that I had a "strong personality"... which could be shown by my exceptionally high scores (see Christy's post for the scores of a more well rounded person). I am still not sure that I am quite as strong a "J" as this test indicates but the rest seem pretty reasonable.

The scores (out of 20)

Extrovert: 3
Introvert: 17
Sensate: 19
Intuitive: 6
Thinker: 20
Feeler: 5
Judging: 18
Percieving: 6

Forbidden Nectar

2009-07-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

Notice the fly that has been trapped

One of these damselflies was still struggling to get free. The other, although still alive, had given up hope

On our last day off I spent quite some time examining, taking pictures of, and lecturing my fellow day offers about a couple types of plants we found abundantly along our route. Both are carnivorous plants which "eat" insects to get the nitrogen they need in the acidic environments where they grow. The first being the pitcher plant which has urn-shaped leaves with downward pointing spikes on them and a sweet smelling juice in the bottom that digests whatever unlucky creature falls into it. The second (pictured above), is the sundew (in the same family as the Venus flytrap). These plants have sweet smelling and extremely sticky glands on the ends of hairs on the plant. When an insect touches one hair the other hairs begin to move towards the prey so that another, and then another contact is made by the plant thus holding its prey more and more firmly while preparing for it's meal.

The devil has many temptations that may seem quite attractive... but if we hold on to one "cherished sin" there are other sticky tendrils that begin to move toward us - other temptations that take advantage of our vulnerability and quickly entangle us in a much worse trap that we could have imagined would result from that "cherished sin".

Unlike the flies in our story, however, we do have a way to escape...

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation". (Hebrews 9:28)

The Son of God, Creator of the universe, came to this earth and died to give me the choice to escape the sticky snares of the devil.

Will you allow him to free you from sin as well?

Breaks From Camp

2009-07-28T04:16:00.000-07:00

Geocaching

The view from Big Slide towards the Great Range

The view from Ampersand

...More adventures to follow as the summer wears on!

2009-07-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Botany

2009-05-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Day Without a Camera

2009-05-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

This May I have been taking two classes, a Botany class and an Entomology class, both of which require a lot of field work. I am often let go at noon with the requirement that, besides a lunch break, I need to spend the rest of the afternoon roaming the fields, woods, streams and bogs in search of specimens to bring back, preserve, and identify. Usually when I have gone out I've brought my camera with me since I never know what I might see... but so far haven't taken too many pictures. Today I figured I could do without its bulk and left it behind which turned out to be a mistake. I got within five feet of a baby woodchuck and even closer to a baby rabbit. I caught two snapping turtles one of which could have made the average dinner plate disappear underneath it and easily weighed 15 pounds. I also caught a snake and saw two really neat tree frogs.

Next time I think I'll bring the camera because I seemed to get more interesting insects when I had it (even if I didn't see as much other cool stuff - my grade doesn't depend on what pictures I take).

Weekend Jaunt

2009-05-04T05:28:00.000-07:00

Caving buddies

Better light reveals the filth in our lives

We were able to make the trip home in about a third of the time it took to get down to SAU... you can see in the picture below, which I took on our way back up, there were no traffic jams on the highway to slow us down.

Jokes From the Last Day of Class

2009-04-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

Q: What do you call a tooth in a glass of water?

A: A 1 molar solution

Q: What is the common name for CH2O? Hint: it is not formaldehyde.

A: Seawater (C-water)

Q: What would one call a test tube with a college degree?

A: A graduated cylinder

Q: How would you name the following compound?

A: Orthodox

Bible Study

2009-04-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

Communication

2009-03-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

The other day I was giving someone a ride to work and, although I thought I had an idea as to the general area where we were headed, I was confirming my directions with him as we went. At one point, on a farm road going into the orchards, there was a “V” in front of us where our road split into two roads each branching slightly off the original trajectory.

Approaching the “V” at a decent speed I casually asked to confirm that we wanted to go left. To this inquiry my companion quickly replied with a twinge of alarm in his thick Russian accent, “No! Straight!”. With his “No” registering in my brain first, I began breaking and turning onto the other branch at which point he again emphasized with even more alarm “Straight! Straight!”

Thinking about the miscommunication as I proceeded to school, I realized that both of us had said some rather foolish things that seemed quite clear to ourselves. In asking if we should turn left, I had no intentions of steering my car into the fence that was directly to our left and I am quite confident that he wasn’t asking me to drive straight into the boulder marking the middle of the “V” for which we were aimed. Yet in my mind the idea of taking the left branch (as opposed to the right branch) made perfect sense. Likewise with him, as the road we wanted was nearly straight in front of us.

If we can misunderstand each other concerning something that is directly in front of both parties involved, and there are only two real options, how are we supposed to communicate concerning more complicated things?

Travelling Mercies

2009-03-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

My plan had been to check my transmission fluid at the first stop for gas but with smoke coming from behind my car and no response at all from my transmission (silly automatic thing that never should have been invented) I had reason to check sooner.

When I coasted into a providentially placed rest area and opened my hood there were smoking puddles of ATF (automatic transmission fluid) on the engine and everything under the hood was drenched. I began contemplating whether it would be wiser to replace the transmission or go shopping for a southern (salt free) vehicle and praying that neither would be necessary.

I quickly located the problem: I’d had a leak fixed last fall and the mechanic who did the work had not done a good job. A hose carrying transmission fluid to the radiator had enough slack that it could wear against the fan. When it wore through, it sprayed its contents all across the inside of the engine compartment and left the transmission without enough fluid to perform.

The wear was in such a place that, within minutes I was able to cut off the damaged part of the hose and clamp it back again with the only side effect being that it was adjusted properly away from the fan (hopefully).

The security guard at the rest area alerted one of the hostesses to my plight and she offered to go get me some ATF if I sent her with some money. I had one quart with me and with two quarts from her the level of ATF came above the bottom of the dipstick. I thanked the security guard and hostess profusely and proceeded to see if I still had a transmission. The transmission worked without any signs of damage and got me a few tentative miles to a car wash where $3 of soap and water on the inside of the engine compartment seemed a wise investment against flames blocking my visibility farther down the highway. I then purchased three more quarts, two of which brought the level above the “add 1 pt.” line. I was finally able to proceed on my way praising the amazing God I serve who saves a college student the cost of a new transmission.

Snapshots of Winter

2009-03-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

The Birth of a Condenser

2009-03-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

These are pictures I took a while ago and have only now had a chance to upload, perhaps later I can take, and upload some pictures of bead and marble making.

The first step in making a condenser is to make a test tube; this is done by heating the center of a tube and, with a slight amount of pulling to keep uniform wall thickness, allow the tube to close off and then pull it apart to make two test tubes.

Each of these needs to be heated again and have gentle air pressure from within to round off their bottoms

Next, we put a smaller tube up inside and support it with what the instructor says is a poor substitute for asbestos.

After sealing the smaller tube to the bottom of our "test tube" we blow a hole out the end of it and join another small tube on, a second bubble is blown in the wall of what is now becoming the condenser to join a water inlet on. These steps are then repeated on the other end to complete the condenser. Pictured below is the fourth and final bubble blown in preparation for fusing on the water outlet.

The final product could be used in reflux or distillation reactions where water would flow through the horizontal tubes thus cooling, but not mixing with, whatever is in the center tube... however this particular one will never achieve this lofty goal. It has already been discarded in the scrap barrel since I would be lucky to get a B- for it and I'd already made one that was much better.

Notes on Snow and Snowplowing

2009-02-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

This post was inspired by Katie's post involving snow plowing

There are people who think they can drive in the snow but can't.

There are people who can't drive in the snow but do.

There are people who can't drive in the snow and leave their car all winter in "No Overnight Parking" or other inconvenient places.

There are people who will race to make their turn behind a dump truck that is backing up.

There are people who save themselves some shoveling by not pulling their car all the way into its parking space and thus giving their neighbors much more snow to shovel from behind their cars before getting out (not to mention the visions conjured up by the plow driver of what their car might look like on top of a snowbank).

When clearing parking spaces there are considerate people who, once you have finished in one AREA will move their cars there so you can clean the spots they had previously occupied.

There are other people who will wait in the middle of the road for 15 minutes until you get to a particular spot at which point they will park there even if the spot next to it or across from it is not yet clean (thus giving less space with which to work on them).

There are still others who, when you are clearing parking spots in one area, will come and (after you have stopped, slowed your engine, and opened your window) ask you to clear their parking spot a quarter mile away - and the high speed mode doesn't work on the skidsteer we usually use for the job.

There are people who find great pleasure in driving through windrows so that you have to re plow in that area.

Some people go running down the middle of the road on blind corners when is still dark in the morning - and our salt spreader truck needs to be driven fast or it puts too much salt down.

When moving snow there are little kids who will return to a particular pile of snow over and over again after you get down from the backhoe and explain to them that it is too dangerous for them to play there while you are working and that there are a dozen other piles nearby that are just as big.

There are people on the sidewalks with headphones on so loud they can't hear a screaming skidsteer engine when you come up behind them and thus continue their leisurely stroll down the center of the sidewalk.

There are people who park their cars on the outside of tight turns (that need to be made with a long truck).

People may make us laugh or irritate us (it depends as much on how many mornings in a row we've gotten up at half past two as it does on what exactly they do) but since we use heavy trucks, and machinery they are rarely dangerous. Curbs, on the other hand are a serious occupational hazard. It seems as though all the plow drivers have hit curbs and in only one story (involving a very heavy tractor that we don't normally use) is the curb the one that breaks. My most intimate experience with one of these friendly pieces of concrete was no worse than a bad punch to the stomach when I ran into it with the bucket of our skidsteer (the laws on conservation of momentum doing their job quite well). Other stories typically involve bloody noses and there is potential for much worse.

All the same I enjoy my time in the plow truck, salt spreader, backhoe, and skidsteer immensely - I hope to get pictures of them to share... sometime.

Winter in the Adirondaks

2008-12-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

AA 507

2008-11-20T04:31:00.000-08:00

What the church needs in these days of peril is an army of workers who, like Paul, have educated themselves for usefulness, who have deep experience in the things of God, and who are filled with earnestness and zeal. Sanctified, self-sacrificing men are needed; men who will not shun trial and responsibility; men who are brave and true; men in whose hearts Christ is formed "the hope of glory," and who with lips touched with holy fire will "preach the word." For want of such workers the cause of God languishes, and fatal errors, like deadly poison, taint the morals and blight the hopes of a large part of the human race.

As the faithful, toilworn standard-bearers are offering up their lives for the truth's sake, who will come forward to take their place? Will our young men accept the holy trust at the hands of their fathers? Are they preparing to fill the vacancies made by the death of the faithful? Will the apostle's charge be headed, the call to duty be heard, amidst the incitements to selfishness and ambition that allure the youth?

-EGW-

Static vs. Kinetic Friction and Other Observations

2008-11-16T16:06:00.000-08:00

Today I found myself thinking back to an experience I had in academy. I was part of the ski club and we were on our weekly trip to Greek Peak when we saw an SUV stuck in the snow by the side of the road. Between the road being dry and only slightly curved, as well as the angle of departure from the road my only explanation was that this individual had been wanting to try out their four wheel drive (of which they seemed quite proud) along the side of some farmers field. It was suggested that, with a van full of high school students, we could help get this person out so we stopped to help. Over and over again we would dig out behind the wheels and get ready to push the car back the way it had come towards the road at which point the driver would floor the accelerator thus spinning and sliding themselves perpendicular to the direction they wanted to move. Back in the present I watched as a tractor was trying to get out of the mud from which it was trying to rescue a skidsteer that was also stuck for similar reasons - the strategy seemed to be to select the lowest possible gear (in low range of course) and give it full throttle... once again with similar results - if one wanted to dig holes, I think a shovel would probably have been less frustrating.

I would like to point out that the coefficient of static friction between two surfaces is always greater and usually significantly greater than that of kinetic friction - in this case meaning that a spinning tire has very little traction. Second, that increasing the torque to your wheels, although wonderful for doing heavy work without working the engine or clutch as hard, in no way improves your traction - to the contrary it makes it more difficult to keep your wheels from 'breaking free'. There is a reason why even some cars with automatic transmissions have an option to start off in second gear rather than first to make slipping less likely on soft and/or icy surfaces. Thirdly, increasing the speed of your tires when you have no traction will not help build up momentum to get over/through some obstacle but rather digs you into a deeper hole - literally!

2008-10-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

A boy was once given a dollar by his father. His sister very nicely offered to make a sacrifice trading him two shiny quarters for his one rumpled dollar. Repeating this logic with his brother, and later with classmates at school, he increased from two quarters to three dimes and finally ended up with five pennies.

What have you done with the gifts your father has given you?

What will this boy do when his father offers to trade him a new dollar for his five precious pennies?

Pawpaw: the Michigan Banana

2008-09-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia, the Pawpaw is the largest indigenous edible fruit in North America and is the only member of the family "Annonacea" that is not confined to the tropics.

Each year I enjoy seeking out and enjoying this sweet, custard-like fruit (albeit with a mildly unpleasant aftertaste) that grows wild in most of the mature woods here in Southwest Michigan.

The Evening Run

2008-09-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Approximate average temperature: 68ºF
Approximate average distance: 4 miles
Amount of mud gathered on shoes/legs: 0 lbs
Available refreshments: peaches, apples, pears, plums, cherries,
Average speed of passing cars (all two of them): 45 mph

Adventures

2008-08-15T05:13:00.000-07:00

St. Regis fire tower

Great race

Ampersand

The great range

Pregnant roller skate and owner (after being moved by hand)

Canoe camp out

Exploring the beautiful stretch of land between the trail form South Meadows and the road to ADK loj

Who can hold their hand in salty ice water longest?

The fifth picture is borrowed from Andrew Whitlow

Flying lessons from Joel

2008-08-15T04:58:00.000-07:00

2008-08-15T04:01:00.000-07:00

I have been extremely blessed this summer with an amazing team up at the horse barn - as a new director trying to run a spiritually centered, safe, and fun program the prayer, support, and advice of my fellow staff have been daily blessings from God.

The team members:

Caitlin

Myself

Katie

Shama

Emily

And last but not least: Caitlin

The first, second, and fourth pictures were taken by my mother

Barn Floor

2008-06-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

The previous owner of our house had put down 3/8" plywood for part of the barn floor and over the past few years it has been telling us that it doesn't appreciate us renting it out to hold cars and boats for the winter - it tells us this by letting their tires break through the thin plywood and sink in between the beams supporting it. We (or more accurately I, with the occasional assistance of some slave labor pictured above) have been replacing the painfully thin plywood with planks that are more than five times thicker which means that the old beams supporting the floor will break long before these boards will. Even though these boards are not as dense as certain other "tablonas" I have worked with, the moment of inertia (due to their length) is sufficiently great as to make my mind wander while I work with them, back in time to other experiences I've had with large lumber.

Musroom Hunting

2008-05-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks I have spent quite a little time searching for morels. As always seems to happen I started off being grateful any time I found a single small mushroom - as the season progressed I got more spoiled and began thinking of small solitary mushrooms as more of a nuisance and was more grateful when I found bigger mushrooms in pairs or triplets. Before coming back to NY (where there don't seem to be morels even though the climate is virtually the same) I went out and found 103 mushrooms in a patch the size of my living room and in another place there were a dozen or so nice big ones along a row of trees. This afternoon we will eat the shoe box full I brought out here and then be required to do without until next spring when the hunt will continue.

Power Supply

2008-05-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

This past week I have occupied my time helping to remodel a home here in Berrien Springs. Most of the things I worked on in the house had an air of economy about them but nothing was poor enough quality (for the time period in which it was installed) to frustrate me. Most things had been built or installed to make the house normal - there was nothing spectacular or unusual about such things as choice in paint color, light fixtures, doorknobs etc. - everything was normal except one thing that is.

Whoever had owned the house seems to have used home wiring as their outlet for artistic expression and had come up with many very creative and amusing ways of laying out different circuits. Some were just plain frustrating, others made me feel like a genius when I finally cracked the code and could rewire things to be normal, but one junction box made me laugh out loud.

I was changing electrical outlets in the living room and noticed there being two receptacles within a foot of each other but in separate boxes. I thought it a bit odd but, after changing the receptacle in the first box, I proceeded to the second. As I unscrewed the receptacle it fell out into my hand with no wires connected to it. The junction box didn't have any wires in it either and, upon examination, never had been hooked up at all as none of the holes where wires would come in had been punched out.

I think many of us are like this receptacle at times - we have the same bright smile on our face as the receptacle next to us and appear in all ways identical... yet when we are not connected to the main power supply we have no value in ourselves and nothing to share with others.

The first outlet received a new body, the body of the second outlet was thrown away and there will be a blank cover placed over it's empty box.

Work Boots

2008-04-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

After thousands of hours of faithful service and paying for themselves hundreds of times over my dearly beloved boots have been laid to rest. Carrying me to five countries and from the Ocean to over 17,000 feet (high that is... each one has only ever carried one foot) these boots have served their purpose well.
The first sign I had that they were needing replacement was when, while hiking one Sabbath afternoon during family camp at camp Cherokee the tread came loose in the front of one boot so that it was only connected at the heel and made a sound like an exaggerated flip-flop while walking. Some duct tape soon kept the tread from flapping until I was able to staple it back on and bend the staples over to keep them from falling out, then later when the back came loose some drywall screws remedied the new situation so that the original glue and stitching had been completely replaced. When I returned to MI for school last fall I was able to get another pair but chose to continue using these ones for work and wearing the new pair to school. As the winter wore on several of the lace eyes fell out and both "laces" (lengths of hard nylon string from Peru that replaced the original laces) broke and had the broken ends tied back together. While thinning timber this spring with my grandpa my right boot would fill up with sawdust from the hole in the side and finally the steel toe fell out thus requiring another application of duct tape to fix them. Last week while I was in the local farm supply store I saw that their boots were on sale and decided it was time to get a replacement for what I have been wearing to school so that I could wear my purchase of last fall to work. Upon arriving home I unceremoniously threw the boots pictured below into the trash. As I write I am wearing my third pair of Caterpillar boots with which I am still quite pleased.

But you know, sometimes the strangest things happen... after throwing those boots in the trash and never expecting to see them again I found them the next morning cleaned, oiled, and sitting above my dresser as if they had feelings for me and didn't want to let me go like that. (Just kidding)

Math lesson

2008-04-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

2008-03-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

Our old sugar maple finally had to come down. It leaned out over the house and had rotted to a point that there was not much holding it upright - just the same it was hard to see it go. I have grown up with this giant that was probably planted when the house was built a 150 or so years ago, have climbed high in it's branches (before I did so recently to limb it) and eaten the sweet syrup that came from it in years past. I guess nothing in this world will last very long except our characters and the those whom we are able to influence for eternity.

Goodbye 'till next year

2008-03-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

PK 228

2008-02-05T16:07:00.000-08:00

"When the Lord in His providence sees fit to remove from His work those to whom He has given wisdom, He helps and strengthens their successors, if they will look to Him for aid and will walk in His ways."

Shaker

2008-01-28T07:35:00.000-08:00

I am a shaker not a hugger, and when it comes to shaking; I'm a hammer not a saw.

This does not mean that I will not accept a hug should someone fail to understand the meaning of my outstretched hand and smile (or if they do understand, perhaps they feel totally inadequate when it comes to the art of shaking). All the same, a well executed handshake carries much more support, confidence, and respect than the indiscriminate wrapping of arms. There are different types of handshakes but most are built as some combination of the following: The “hammer” is a firm up and down motion usually containing two or three strokes of the hammer. Most handshakes are predominantly “hammer shakes” although they may contain trace amounts of some other handshakes as well. The saw, as one might expect, is a back and forth motion as if one was working a crosscut saw. There are also the “screwdriver”, “dairyman”, “knuckle roller”, “NRA”, and countless other handshakes most of which are extremely rare – the “soggy noodle” (queue tine hermana Liz), although very common, should not, by any stretch of the imagination be considered a handshake.

Some handshakes though, are harder to analyze than to say that, for example, “it is a 90-10 hammer/saw mix”. One person I know has a handshake that requires a coordinate system to describe (if you havn't had college math I advise skipping this paragraph). Imagine a Cartesian coordinate system in which “z” is up, and initially (my hand being at the origin) the positive “x” axis is along the length of my forearm. The first “stroke” of the shake with this particular individual follows a path approximately following the vector that starts from the origin and extends to the spherical coordinates: (0.2, 13π/12, 17π/36) with ρ being measured in meters. From there the direction reverses and our hands pass back through the starting point and extend to an equidistant point on the opposite side of the origin. This is complicated by the fact that I am still attempting to give her a “hammer shake” and that her elbow performs harmonic motion parallel to the “y” axis with significantly greater amplitude than the corresponding “y component” of our hand movement.

In layman's terms, this is primarily a “saw shake” but has a distinct angled feel to it and a certain twisting caused by the back and forth motion of her elbow.

It is almost sad, when shaking the hands of a large number of people, to come to the realization that precious few people on this earth know how to properly shake hands. Most commonly they are void of energy, have a faint grip, and a shake as though they are trying to scare a fly from the back of their hand. The “dairyman” would be just as bad if it weren't for its rarity, but in a world of limp noodles and weak shakers, receiving a “dairyman” is far better than the average. Still, those who have perfected the firm, simple hammer are in possession of a great gift that few are capable of giving.

If, as you have been reading this, you have come to the realization that you are a “hugger” you are not without hope - in fact it takes very little practice to become a reasonably good shaker but you need to start by identifying that you have a problem and make a conscious effort to fix it. For most this will merely require changing your mindset as you already have what it takes to give a good handshake: If you can pick up a 10 kg book bag with one hand you have more than the required grip and if you can shake a bottle of juice (up and down of course) before you drink it you have the forearm strength and merely need to implement these skills the next time you shake someone's hand. Some of my readers may have a unique handshake, I will not condemn this as it is often an idiosyncrasy that is part of their personality – but if that is the case they should be proud of it.

Polarization

2008-01-16T07:14:00.001-08:00

Our lives are dominated by one of two 'forces' in this universe. As time draws to a close I believe there will be a noticeable shift so that each soul will be very closely aligned with either one side or the other with no 'middle ground'. In this illustration, the very instant I drop in a magnet, each shaving of metal aligns itself along the field lines and begins the slow process of moving toward one pole or the other; but it takes a long time before they all are drawn to their respective side. Unlike the metal shavings in this illustration, we, in our lives, have the choice as to which pole to align ourselves with... but beyond that the outcome will be the same.

Which pole are you aligned with today?

Car troubles and answered prayers

2008-01-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for a day of cross country skiing yesterday I dropped my car keys into the back pocket of the backpack I planned to take. Getting skis, poles, and other paraphernalia out of my car I was unconcerned when the door sung shut...until I realized that it was locked and my keys were on the inside. A quick look through the Kurtz' car reveled nothing that looked promising for unlocking the car but with some more searching Joel had the brilliant idea to take the wire supports out of a nylon safety bag. After trying to feed these through the top of the various doors in attempts to catch the lock mechanism I realized quite quickly that my car was designed well (i.e. you can't slip a wire through the door anywhere near a lock switch), and that our wires, although we had two of them, were too short. During this time I, and hopefully those with me, were praying that we would be able to get in without breaking a window or calling someone to help us out. We finally returned to the door that had been the problem since it was not completely closed and tried to figure out how to unlatch it. I finally decided I could try an extended version of something we did in Peru - fish the keys themselves out of the car. We bent a hook in one of the wires and I was barely able to reach the top of the backpack, snag it, and pull it up close to the top of the door. Christy held this wire tight so that the backpack wouldn't fall down while i bent a hook into the other wire and caught farther down on the backpack hooking it again and bringing the pocket containing the keys closer to the top of the door. Now Christy held the second wire while I worked with the first to open the zippered pocket and dig around where I thought the keys were until I hooked them. Then with everyone pulling on the top of the door to make as big a space as possible I fished the keys out through the crack and was able to get into the car.

After a great day of skiing we got back to our cars, loaded up and after the other car had left Joel and I discovered that my car wouldn't start - headlights indicated a good battery but the engine wouldn't turn over. I backed the car down off the hill it was on to a level place and tried again - still nothing. Joel and I sent up a prayer and then prepared to crawl under and knock on the starter solenoid (or whatever the little thing is that gets you a couple more starts from a bad starter) after finding where it was and getting a hammer out of my trunk we decided to try to crank the engine one more time. This time it started right up just as the other car came back to hurry us up.

2008-01-03T16:12:00.001-08:00

You will notice that there is a great difference in the way Andrew teaches Ashley to shoot and the way the rest of us give her instruction... next thing we know he will be instructing her in croquet, archery, golf, and who knows what else.

New sister

2007-12-26T16:38:00.000-08:00

My brother Andrew has decided to bring a sister into our family. Yesterday (Christmas) He asked Ashley Wagner to marry him and they are now talking about various dates and locations for a wedding sometime next summer.

Along with this new development (or actually for about a year now) I have ceased to hear the predictions that plagued me for the better part of my life saying that I would marry before him... There's still a few months... but I would sure hate to have to buy John pizza (besides some other minor details).

Peruvian Ingenuity

2007-12-14T10:00:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately these are not recent pictures; I wanted to show Brent a picture of my framing hammer. While I was looking for it I found a few other pictures and although anyone interested in them has probably already seen them I will post them anyways.

For lack of a plane to cut back the wood covering the door frame I become a machete carpenter (and you thought a jack knife carpenter was bad)

When one wants to be sure that their sewer drains away from the house and doesn't have surveying equipment... you us a string with a line level and then mark on a board to make sure that the depth of the ditch increases an inch for every four feet it travels.

This is a hinge I saw for the grate covering an electric meter which is made from two links of a motorcycle chain (you will notice that the grate itself is made of rebar)

This high tech paintbrush is made from a stick, good old duck tape, and dog hair... it served its purpose well.

And finally the picture that the post was made for, when one is faced with tough wood and big nails you need a framing hammer (Brent's blog isn't really about a framing hammer but his mention of the wood sparked my memory back to this bit of ingenuity of which I am quite proud)

Hitchhiker

2007-11-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

A hitchhiker with a large pack was thumbing a ride one bitter cold afternoon. The gusts of wind were driving sleet and rain so that it stung his face when it hit and sent chills down to his bones. When he didn't think he could take any more, a kind hearted farmer stoped to give him a lift. He gratefully climbed in the cab of the farmers truck and took his seat all the while telling how thankful he was that he no longer needed to walk in the bitter cold. After a few miles the farmer asked why he still had on his heavy backpack; the reply came back that, since the farmer had already been so kind in picking him up and giving him a ride when the alternative was so miserable, it wasn't fair to make the farmer carry both him and his pack along on their journey.

Are you still carrying a burden that has already been taken care of?

Understanding

2007-10-16T06:34:00.001-07:00

I have discovered that it is painfully difficult for me to learn something I can't apply. This Spring when I went through a week of training to work with the horses at camp I took a test to see how I learn best and came out as almost exclusively a kinesthetic learner - I need something that I can put my hands on (or imagine putting my hands on) and work with. Today in Circuit Analysis class the concept of a capacitor came to life for me as I realized exactly how it could be used - and how simply: just connect it to a power supply such as a battery for a few seconds and then bring it to whatever you want to shock (first I'll need to embroider our doormat with copper wire so that when little brothers come with their bare feet....). Another concept that was hard for me in Statics class two years ago was Inertia - but having it explained through demonstration in Physics class it is many times easier to calculate - even thought the formulas haven't changed a bit. I believe that it is for people like me that God has given us so many illustrations and symbols of who he is and what his nature is. Jesus spoke in parables so that, among other reasons, people could understand things of a nature that, had they been explained directly, would not have been understood or accepted. Since He continually pointed to things around Him with which his listeners were familiar, all could understand deeper truths than those who had studied the scriptures to great length outside the context of the nature and work in which Jesus had grown up. The more I experience God's creation in nature (and now even more so through the laws of physics) the more I am able to understand Him and His word.

Friction Stir Welding

2007-09-14T06:38:00.001-07:00

The Andrews University chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) took a field trip the shop of someone who designs friction stir welders. This welding process produces much less heat and doesn't produce an arc - watching the welding process is essentially like watching a pice of metal pass through a milling machine (the grandfather of friction stir welders) without sending off any chips.

a weld (approximately one inch wide and creating a depression of a few thousandths of an inch on a thick piece of aluminum alloy)

One of the welding tips - the screw-like point presses into the metal and between that and the plate above it exerting 100kN (about 11.2 tons) of force on the workpiece and spinning at somewhere between 200 and 1800 rpms creates enough friction to bring the workpiece just short of it's melting point and mixes material from both sides together creating a clean, uniform weld that is stronger than conventional methods for welding aluminum alloys, copper, and titanium.

They showed us a CAD (computer drawn) based video clip of how one of their machines will be used for a new rocket that NASA is building but were unable to show us the whole thing due to the fact that there were non-US citizens in our group and the tag of the video said "sensitive but unclassified". They also wouldn't let us take pictures of a number of parts they had in their shop that belonged to various customers. At one point I was asking some questions about the welding process on a particular part when one of the designers said he would show me one of his 'dirty tricks' . He took my notebook and began drawing, showing me how to take a particular bolt and, through use of a lathe, turn, drill, and tap it in a particular way making one of the welding tips (much like the one pictured above) that can be used even on a milling machine (given a big enough machine and some practice). He said that when customers wanted him to try out a new bit design this was how he did it, that way, when writing up his report he could just look up the Rockwell hardness of the bolt, give it's dimensions after turning and not mention how exactly he had made something with such a high tech job in twenty minutes from materials available at your hardware store... it wasn't 'till I was on the way home that I realized that this had absolutely nothing to do with the part I was asking about but rather had been a distraction from it.

Shooting

2007-09-14T06:34:00.001-07:00

Outdoor Activities

2007-09-04T06:59:00.001-07:00

Geocaching

For the second geocache, my cousin(Terry Trecartin) sat for quite some time while his wife and I were looking for it - he kept laughing and saying that the gps was right on the money (there was not much place to hide it; a lawn and a chain link fence so we were thinking it might be a little farther away from the coordinates given), that he knew where it was, and that he couldn't believe we hadn't found it. After some time he began telling us exactly where it was... and we still couldn't find it. Finally, after telling me I had my had on it (and still hadn't discovered it) he pointed out a fishing line I hadn't noticed going down into the top of a post.

'Other' activities: (tin can + .22 ) x 10 min=

Spiritual Environment

2007-08-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

A rising tide will lift all the ships in the harbor.
-quoted by pastor Larry Lichtenwalter

Scripture memorization

2007-08-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.
Amos 8:11

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
1 Peter 3:15

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
John 5:39

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Deuteronomy 6:6-8

We might close the door to many temptations, if we would commit to memory passages of Scripture.
EGW

...man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Deuteronomy 8:3

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee
Psalm 119:11

Memorizing scripture will put your spiritual life on steroids and help you to resist temptation. I started with a bible study group two years ago at Andrews and it has provided a bridge from my devotional time into the rest of the day where you can, as you work on memorizing a text, continually contemplate its meaning and life application. This summer I fell behind on my memorizing... or more accurately stopped completely. But now, as I head back to school I am determined each week to memorize at least two new texts as well as reviewing and sharpening the ones I had previously... and I am asking you to join me.

Friends

2007-08-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Cherokee Horse staff 2013... in the meantime they are excellent assistants
My fellow day-offer

Theere are certain people who can't leave a fellow alone when he wants to eat his food and look at the beautiful view over the lake... instead they bring good company and pleasant conversation to what was already an enjoyable meal.

More Peaks

2007-07-25T03:53:00.000-07:00

Our hike started at the end of a little spur off the road to Adirondak lodge (to save ourselves the $9.00 parking fee) The trail in to Marcy dam was a road at one time so the trail was smooth with no steep inclines and the bridges were strong and wide... after that we had more typical adirondak trails.

Take a careful look at the last line of the sign that someone scratched in. This, to me, is by far the most important.

(left to right: me, Joel , and Brian )

From on top of Wright you can see heart lake between us.

Our second peak was Algonquin and if you have a good imagination you can picture Iroquois behind us.
The last peak for the day was Iroquois where we got a good view of flowed lands, which, I must say I have a warm spot in my heart for. We stopped to take a dip in one of the creeks on the way back down (I think my feet were numb before the rest of my body hit the water) and then hiked back out by Avalanch lake.

18 mile day off

2007-07-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

From the top of Mt. Marcy looking down on the world... or at least the state.

Joel hiking down Marcy towards Skylight
From the top of Skylight with Marcy in the background.

Caveing

2007-07-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on my day off I went to Eagles Nest Cave with our maintenance director, Joel Kurtz, our camp cook Cassie, and our camp directors daughter Amanda. My first experience underground (except for a couple guided walks with electric lights overhead) was well worth the time it took to put a chinstrap on one of the camps hardhats and ask Joel a billion questions as to what else I should bring. The hike up was beautiful (as you can see above) and as we entered the cave we did not make many arrows pointing to the entrance because there were already quite a few there. Lauri, our maintenance director knew the cave and had the gear that we used but, once we got deep into it and decided to start heading out we discovered that we had followed arrows into a series of several vertical circles with many dead ends leading off of them that we went through many times before finally finding our way out. In one place several arrows pointed into a hole that ended within three feet and appeared to have been recently blocked up possibly by an earthquake or something. We finally found our way out when we stumbled upon the bottom of the rope we had rappelled in on and allowed to fall farther down a hole below us before going around a different way.
Joel Kurtz is helping Amanda off with her figure eight.

Canoe trip

2007-06-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

This summer we were not able to do our usual trip due to too short a window of time and a two and a half day driving time up to where we would need to start - we should have made it down the Nottaway to James Bay but couldn't fit it in. We were, however able to go on a short, tame trip - not even quite a camping trip due to a lack of rain, bugs, and inclimate temperatures. We went 60-70 miles through a couple lakes and down a river with a bunch of dams on it into Lake Superior. It was just hot enough that we were able to go chunky dunking a couple times a day but the water was still quite "refreshing".

Horsemanship Training

2007-06-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

I spent last week at Camp Winnekeag in Massachusets for a equestrian instructor certification class so that I can work at Camp Cherokee this summer. My schedule was full from 5:30 A.M. to 10:30 P.M. but I was greatful for the knowledge I gained and the friendships I built with others who desire to use horses as an evangelism tool in our SDA summer camp programs.

Camp Cherokee Work Weekend

2007-05-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

The following pictures (posted at the request of Christy) were all taken by my mom on her nice camera - which is why they are each loaded into a seperate post, since due to their size, I can't fit more than one per post and I don't know how to compress the files on the computer - only on the camera.

Build Your Foundation on the Rock

2007-05-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Trail crew

2007-05-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

left to right: my brother Andrew, Christy, Justin,Ashley

Excruciatingly dull (the chain saw of course)

2007-05-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Highway construction crew

2007-05-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Difficult Doorhanging

2007-05-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

It all started when Andrew told me that Ev Jhurs wanted a door replaced and wanted to know if I could do it. I told him that it would be no problem - I could come over and measure so he could get a new door and then return to do the installation when he got it. It was a small door with a rough opening of 32"x80". The next day he said he had the door so I went over and took out the old door. The board underneath was rotten, and as I was getting ready to replace it I took a look at the door he had gotten; the door itself was 32"x80" ... and it's casing was on the outside of that. I brought the problem to Mr. Jhurs and he decided that it would be better to make this door fit than to get a different one. So after a day and a half of tearing things apart, re-framing, chiseling out and then re-pouring part of the floor to make it level, adjusting the siding on the outside of the house, adjusting the carpet on the inside of the house, putting the door in, and rebuilding the wall on the inside of the house we finally had the door in place. Then for the doorknob. I knew I was in trouble when I saw an $8 price tag on the box... and sure enough after half an hour of fooling and actually reading directions (poorly translated - probably from Chinese) I determined that it could not be used for what we wanted it for and asked Mr. Jhurs if he would mind getting a different one. While he was going to get it I cleaned up most of my mess and when he returned with a "Quickset" I was able to finish within a few minutes using a doorknob of infinitely better quality.
The morals of this story are first, that if a rough opening is a certain size get a door that will fit - casing and all , and secondly, if you are paying someone to do something for you get quality materials - they will last longer and you will pay a lot less for the labour of trying to make something work that isn't fit to be used.

Pictures from the Market

2007-04-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Pig heads... at least i thought they were from a pig when I took the picture... but now that I look at them the nose seems far too long... something nasty nonetheless.

Turtles, turtle innards, and turtle eggs

The hottest peppers you would ever care to eat.

Pollution

2007-04-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here in Perú pollution seems to be quite rampant and few if any of the locals seem to care. There is no thought whatsoever given to littering, sewage treatment, or air quality - our emmisions standards here are that if you can get your old engine to run it passes the emmisions test even if it fills the street behind it with black smoke. I once watched horrified on a boat on Lake Titicaca while the driver emptied the trash can on board into the crystal clear lake just a few minutes from the port - probably trying to save himself the work of hauling the half pound of bottles and wrappers half a dozen yards across the beach when he came in. The boy in the picture at right I observed in Inahuaya throwing plastic cups into the river. In the picture he is still playing with the last of about half a dozen which he threw into the river one by one waiting 'till each one had sunk out of sight before throwing the next. I asked him if he had thought that putting trash in the river made it look ugly pointing out some of the litter along the bank. His innocent reply was that whatever he throws in here floats a long ways away and he doesn't have to look at it. I then asked him what he thought about the idea that enough trash in the river could start killing fish and animals and once again he pointed out what to him was quite obvious: that there are lots of fish and animals and that they would always be here.

Waterfalls

2007-04-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the waterfalls we went to on our trip to Iquitos. As John's blog has a very detailed account of what we did and saw I will not repeat it here but rather show a picture of the main falls.

Take note that part of the falls is coming out of, rather than over the rock... this water is far to hot to get in and even the main part of the falls is warmer than your average hot tub.

matchmakers

2007-03-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

For some reason unknown to me it seems that, when a Peruvian sees a "gringo" they automatically assume that the gringo would like to obtain one or more Peruvian girlfriends and/or wives. Everywhere we go there are people trying to introduce us guys to young women they know... some of which are eligible. Shortly after we got here we were having lunch with the family of an Adventist pastor and I was asked whether or not I had a girlfriend at home (a common question along with such questions as do you want a Peruvian girlfriend? do you like to dance? etc.), before I could answer the pastor told me that it didn't matter whether I did or not that it would be good for me to have one here. Another time, while we were traveling in Ecuador I helped a lady hang something on a high nail outside her little store; immediately noticing my height she motioned to a girl inside (presumably her daughter) and motioned for me to take her and leave. As I was still chuckling to myself she noticed John who had been a little behind me and she called back farther into the store for another daughter. We continued on (without the girls) but I kept wondering what the mother would have thought had we taken the girls with us and she had never seen or heard from them again. Once again, just today I was told I should marry a particular girl, I looked over at the one being spoken of who was nursing a baby and had an older daughter clinging to her shirt. We were in the poorest neighbourhood I have seen since being in Peru and she was by no means the cream of the crop even there. Her rotten teeth protruded from her half-open mouth at about a 45º angle to her flat greasy face and she was significantly heavier than most people here. But once again, as I walked away with Eber (who I was accompanying to his bible studies) I questioned myself, what might her character be like? How would she look and behave if given the proper love, lifestyle, and home? And the scariest: what would I be like if I had grown up with the same disadvantages in life?

John's Recorder

2007-03-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night after the house was clean and John and I had both showered I sat down at our table to do some reading and he went to get his recorder. Often, during some of the more peaceful times of our week the sweet notes of favourite hymns from John's recorder float around our house and I was looking forward to listening to him play. He sat back down and got off about three notes before he made one of the most disgusted grunts I think I have heard. When I looked over, both his hands and his recorder were covered with large ants that were quickly exiting from all the finger holes. He went out the back door and tried to shake them off, in the process shaking his recorder apart onto the back porch. After each piece was "clean" he put them back together and proceded to play.

Taxi

2007-02-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

The trip between our project and Campo Verde (the nearest town) is one I make quite frequently. I have used such conveyances as sandals, a motorcycle, a motocar, a pickup, and once, the plush cab of a tandem dump truck owned by a Brazilain contracting company that recently paved the road past our project. Today it was a taxi. I had begun walking towards town and before long was able to flag down a typical Peruvian taxi: a Toyota Corolla with bald tires and numerous cobwebbed cracks on the windshield from before the road was paved. It was already occupied by six people (four short of what it "comfortably" seats even though there are only seatbelts for five) and so I figured I would probably ride in the trunk since nobody was back there yet. I soon discovered that the trunk had four chickens with their feet tied together and a gunny sack full of piglets as well as a few little presents left by the chickens. I smushed into the back seat and completed my short journey into town.

Steering

2007-02-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

This past week the doctor drew what to me was a powerful spiritual lesson from a frustrating experience.

Last summer, before most of us got here, our tractor was stripped of all valuable parts that could be carried off. Since then a lot of work has been put into getting the tractor working again and this past week it was finally running. The doctor and I took it back into the jungle down a very uneven, winding trail to where a pile of wood is that we needed to haul out ( the same thing we were doing with the truck in my previous blog) . When we were nine tenths of the way there on our second trip we lost all steering cabability. Up to this point it had been very hard to steer but now the steering wheel turned freely without moving the tires. For the next eternity the doctor drove changhing between first gear and reverse every fifteen seconds or so and using the brakes to help steer while I pushed the front tires in the direction we wanted them to go. When we got about half way back the tractor stalled (probably due to using the breaks a little too heavily for steering purposes) and, as the starter was not working (we had pull started it with the pickup), we left it there and went to lunch. Later that afternoon we gathered everyone to come and push it out while two people steered the front tires. While we were taking apart and cleaning the steering assembly to see what could (or couldn't) be fixed the doctor said that the tractor is like our lives; we can put lots of work into getting our life running the way we would like it, but if our guidance system is lacking we will accomplish nothing besides making ourselves frustrated and tired. God is the only steering system for our lives that is of any value, at the end of John 15:5 He states "... for without me you can do nothing."

The Mission Truck

2007-02-05T05:40:00.000-08:00

Last week we borrowed an old pickup from the mission with wich to pick up some lumber we had cut out in the jungle. It is a Cheverolet Silverado 2500 with a four speed manual trasmission, a four cylinder diesel engine (not original), and four wheel drive, which, as we discovered later doesn't work.
When the doctor got to the project with the truck he told us we had to return it by noon to the mission. We all hopped in the back, drove down a dirt path that borders our property, and then turned off onto a semi-cleared area over top of a gasline that bisects our property. When we got to the entrance of our trail into the jungle the truck got stuck and it was then that we discovered the four wheel drive did not work. After getting the truck unstuck the doctor decided he didn't want to drive back in farther but rather carry the beams, some weighing over 200 kg, out to where the truck was. Being the lazy person I am and not wanting to carry beams I asked if I could try to back the truck in where it needed to go, the doctor agreed and I tookthe wheel. Driving as I would in snow so as not to spin the tires and loose traction I got back to where the wood was and made several successful trips back to the houses as well. Something we hadn't counted on, however, was that the truck is built a little differently than the Jeep we had been using before in that the driveshafts have nothing protecting them from the tall grass through which we were driving. I was shifting the truck into low range* to get in and out of the jungle trail and on one occasion was unable to shift out of it. I made the trip back to the houses very slowly and when I returned I explained my situation to the doctor who also could not get it out of low. We decided to make one more trip and then the doctor would have to hurry to get back for the 12:00 deadline he had. As I was leaving the jungle trail I went to shift into a higher gear and the clutch pedal went to the floor without disengaging the clutch. I yelled out the window that I wasn't going to stop as I had no clutch and proceeded to "float" it into second. fifty yards later the truck quit and we discovered the cause of all our problems: we had previously cleaned off the grass that had wrapped around the back driveshaft but the front driveshaft now had
enough grass wound around it to disconnect the lever that shifts in and out of low range, disconnect the clutch pedal to the clutch and finally ripped a fuel line out of the engine. We cleaned the grass out and reconnected the fuel line and shift lever but still had several problmems; when a diesel runs out of fuel you don't just start it up again like you can with a gas engine but rather "bleed" the fuel lines (a process which I know nothing about). We also were missing several pieces to put the clutch back together with and we had a nearly flat tire. The other guys went back to try to find the missing parts to the clutch and the doctor and I tried to start the truck. Through some miracle, after cranking for a while the engine turned over without bleeding any fuel lines and I drove (once again clutchless) while the doctor walked behind keeping an eye on the ever deflating tire. We finally got back to the end of our driveway by half past one in the afternoon, ate lunch and then I went into town with the tire to get it fixed while the doctor and a mechanic who had been working on our "tractor" put the clutch linkage back together with the parts that had been found. By three in the afternoon the truck was in working order and on it's way back to Pucallpa only three hours late (which is good for Peruvian time).

*The problem with the four wheel drive was in the front differential and therefore did not affect the decrease in gear ratio when shifting into low. This is also the reason why the front driveshaft was still turning.

Grandpa's New Chainsaw

2007-01-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

The last time I was in Pucallpa I got an email from my generous grandfather telling me that he had deposited money in my checking account for a new chainsaw for the project. We have been using a couple of beastly chainsaws to cut even very small bushes and they are very tiring besides taking a long time to sharpen and being harder to tighten the chain etc. John and I went to the bank where I withdrew the money and then while the rest of the group was waiting in line at the post office to get packages through customs I went and bought a Stihl 250 with an 18" bar (as opposed to the meter long bars on the other saws).

The first day working with the saw was wonderful I could freely walk through brush and could even cut things that were higher than my waist without expending an incredible ammount of energy. I finished clearing in the more open area that we were working and proceeded to the actual "Selva". While I was trying to clear my way in to the first tree I saw the tail of one of our friendly neighbours sticking out from some brush. Not knowing the difference between different types of wildlife here I made the foolish descision to kill first, and ask questions later. I traced the tail forward to the head of a 7+ foot rainbow boa (that we could have sold alive for $1000 USD) and after a fair bit of work was able to cut the head of with the chainsaw.

When I came out to where John and Jackson were working, John came running at me swinging his machete and had I not told him that the snake was already dead I am convinced that he would have started hacking at me in an attempt to kill the snake.

I learned my lesson though, and if I find another large snake I won't kill it... unless more than half of me is inside it - just think of the tools we could buy with an extra thousand dollars!

ants, wasps, and granadilla

2007-01-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

My past week could be characterized by three main points - besides what I was actually supposed to be doing.

John and I have been clearing trees from a section of land at our km38 project on which we intend to plant fruit trees. What we hadn't bargained on was that each tree has either an ant nest, or, more commonly, one or more wasp nests.

We quickly found a solution to the ant nests with a little gasoline and a lighter after which the nest might smolder for several hours before it was burned completely up. Then, with the aid of some beekeeping equipment decided to try the same weapon against the wasps. Unfortunately the mesh which my veil is made up of is large enough for these little friends to enter through and leave small presents on various parts of my anatomy.

The best strategy I have found so far is to squirt the nest with gasoline, quickly run over to where the unprotected John is watching, ditch the little devils onto him, and then return to light the nest on fire.

Here is John after trying to give an unsucessful butterfly kiss to one of the friendly residents of our land ... such as the one seen at right.

One can't have all bad without any benefits and I
was blessed enough to discover a place where there are tons of wild granadilla growing. These are essentially passion fruit although different people make different distinctions between the various kinds. The appearance is something like that of the wasp larvae that we are killing but for those who can get past their looks they are delicious. John and I have probably each eaten twenty of them this week alone.