Category: Outdoors
Camping
June 4th, 2008, 12 Comments
Terah, Jacob, and I went camping last weekend. Terah had asked me what I wanted for Father’s Day. I thought for just a second, and said “camping!” She looked like she regretted asking. But it has been a year since our last camping trip, so off we went. We went to Marion County Park and [...]
How to Start Bicycling to Work
May 24th, 2008, 6 Comments
Yesterday, I wrote about bicycling to work, pointing out that it’s a safe, inexpensive, way for many people (including office workers without access to showers) to get to work. There were a lot of thoughtful comments there too. Today I’d like to provide some tips for getting started commuting on a bicycle. As I’m just [...]
Bicycling to Work
May 23rd, 2008, 13 Comments
We hear a lot these days about the price of gas, energy efficiency, and the like. But, in the United States, outside of a few progressive cities, there aren’t a lot of people that are using the ultimate zero-emissions transportation technology: bicycles. That’s really too bad, because bicycles are a lot cheaper to operate than [...]
A Smart Gas Tax
April 29th, 2008, 11 Comments
The recent announcements by McCain and Clinton of their support for a temporary repeal of the Federal gas tax make me sick. More on why later, but first, I want to put forth my idea. I think both Republicans and Democrats would like it — as it’s based on market principles and achieves a reduction [...]
Finally
February 27th, 2008, No Comments
About a week and a half ago, I had to call in to work. The conversation went about like this: Me: I’m going to be a little late today. I’m stuck in the mud, but I’m still on the road. Other end: (Laughter).. *ahem* I’m sorry, but that sounded really funny. From our house, we [...]
Ice Photos
December 17th, 2007, 4 Comments
For those of you wanting to see some pictures from the recent ice storm, here you go. The morning: This bush sorta got short and flat: A tree branch: And another: Then, at noon: Then the snow came: If you have trouble finding the driveway… well, good thing we’ve got reflectors. The rental generator that [...]
A Clarification
December 13th, 2007, 4 Comments
You may remember my post Monday in which I told Mother Nature to “bring it on”. I would like to clarify that remark at this time. I would have preferred Mother Nature to interpret this in the President Bush sense of “please don’t hurt us”, rather than the “let’s just knock out power to the [...]
The Story of One Barn
August 30th, 2007, 4 Comments
About 80 years ago, a Kansas family — the Janzens — built this barn. About 60 years ago, my grandparents moved onto the farm. Their cattle were kept right here. I remember Grandpa’s red tractor being parked in the barn. So many memories have this barn in the background. We had a visit from one [...]
Predictability
May 11th, 2007, 5 Comments
One of the things about living in the country is that there isn’t all that much predictability. You can have your water supply disrupted by ants, sewage issues, power supply problems, etc. But today was a new one that disrupted my morning commute. It wasn’t mud, or harvest. No, it was traffic. On our driveway, [...]
Result of that radar image
May 8th, 2007, 2 Comments
A couple of days ago, I posted a radar image. The above photo is the result of that (and a following) storm. It’s the muddy road at the end of our driveway. Your guess as to which road is the driveway. Here’s another road near us: Cliff also has some photos from this same storm [...]
