Brad’s Take

Google Earth computer program

Google offers a nifty earth-scene program GoogleEarth. Go to Google.com, on the menu at the top-left or wherever, select the drop-down list under “more”, then “even more”. In alphabetic order is “Earth”. This is a fairly large application, you download it and install it, that will then connect to Google for information about what part of the Earth you are looking at. It is fascinating to see moderately detailed images of your house, your city, the nation, or the world.

Earth comes in three flavors or prices. Google Earth is free – I have used it for several years, it is great. Google Earth Pro is $400, and I don’t know what that looks like. Then there is Google Earth Enterprise Solution – $Call $$Us. I think part of the difference is how fine a detail you get, and whether the images are a few years old (Google Earth free edition) or real time ($Call $$Us version).

Wunderground.com

I like the weather presentation at Wunderground.com (Weather Underground. Huh.) A few months ago they added a display option called “WunderMap”. It sure looks like Google Earth. It sticks current temps and radar activity (rain, snow, etc.) on top of satellite imagery of the ground. Really good satellite imagery.

This morning I wanted to check on the weather where a friend is working. While looking at the WunderMap, I zoomed out to see the whole nation, and noticed nothing much doing around North Dakota at the moment.

There has been so much wailing and gnashing of teeth about the storm on the East Coast I grabbed the image with the cursor, and dragged Washington, DC to the center of the image, and zoomed in slightly.

The Ocean

I noticed the Continental Shelf – the gradually deepening, rather flat extent of ocean floor near coast lines.

It looked gorgeous.

I zoomed out a bit. I had read a few months ago about the Gulf stream and how it flowed to the North Atlantic – and sank, to flow along the bottom of the ocean back to the Gulf of Mexico.

There is a seam along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, guiding those warmed waters from Mexico up to warm and modify the weather for Ireland and the United Kingdom. And it is gorgeous, zoomed out to see most of the Atlantic Ocean from in one view.

Across the Pond

At the time of Columbus’ sailing, the general wisdom was for ships to stay nearly within sight of land, maybe several miles, depending on how tall the ship was for a lookout to keep track. Zoom in on the British Isles, and notice the broad and nearly flat (I am still admiring WunderMap at Wunderground.com) continental shelf – which moderates the power of the waves likely to be encountered by a ship. It is amazing to view, in colors representing height and depth (topological view of the ocean floor), the character and historical impact of the shape of the ocean floor.

Fault Lines

Back on the US side of the Atlantic, I noticed a string of “pimples” off the shores of New England – volcanic cones. A fiction book some years ago posited a major earthquake in New England. There are fairly major fault lines there – and I can see the progression leading up from the depths of the ocean and across the continental shelf there.

I looked for Haiti (not that Haiti has been in the news, or earthquakes there). That is one folded and torn piece of ocean bottom. The ridge from Haiti to the south, and crevasse to the north across the ocean floor sure look to me to indicate lots of stress in the earth’s crust, cutting right across Haiti.

And it is interesting to see the wide range of depths around the Caribbean Sea. Amazing – no wonder wrecks got so very lost. Or that the waters were so troubled as to sink so many ships over the centuries.

The oceans, as seen through WunderMap and Google Earth. Amazing.

UPDATE:

I glanced at the Indian ocean (South of India, between Africa and Australia is how I think of it). There was temperature and wind marker – at the top of a single volcano cone, on a fold of the ocean, in the middle of, well, ocean. Ile Amsterdam.

I zoomed in on the mountain – closer than they had imagery for all the surrounding water. Move the image to the center, zoom a little bit, repeat. There is a ring of trees just off the ocean on the east side of the island. With a road leading north. And a Land Rover-looking vehicle on the winding track, heading north. On the North side of the island is a group of buildings – La Roche Godon. Amazing. (67 degrees, wind to the southwest, from a station on the shore, to the west of La Roche Godon.)

I was thinking about Sharon’s apocalyptic, if optimistic (she believes many of us can survive the approaching end of the American economy) Peak Oil prospects. And paint. We use paint for decoration, many of us, but some of us remember it is intended to preserve wood, too. And when we can’t afford to ship paint or cement from once side of the state to the other, let alone from China, then what alternatives do we have? Quick – everyone put in an acre of flax? And the re-learn how to press oils from flax seed for linseed oil. I need to look up why they call fabric made from the fibers of flax linen, and the oil pressed from flax seed is called linseed oil. Likely a bit of obscure history there.

What isn’t obscure is the long history of linseed oil and preserving and sealing wood – and creating a lasting and beautiful finish, too. Anyway, back to paints, if you want something brighter or more versatile than linseed oil.

From Mother Earth News, the original guide to living wisely, Make Safe, Natural Paint:

If you’d like to create a warm and inviting living space, consider using homemade, eco-friendly paints. Using natural materials is a great way to bring the outdoors in, and they’re easier on your home because they can allow painted surfaces to release moisture naturally. Plus, most commercially manufactured paints contain toxic materials or petroleum-based ingredients that are energy-intensive to produce.

The recipes an information make good reading, whether you are counting on Ace Hardware still being there after the end of things as we know it, or just want to reduce the number of toxic chemicals in the paint shed.

I bought a mattress. It was 1989, my air mattress leaked, and I wanted something that was a good value.

Instead I got a Spring Air, with pillow top (and bottom!) just like Vanna White was promoting, back then. The claim was that it would last 20 years.

I turned it over the last time, last fall. When a spring broke, and poked my butt. It only lasted 19 years and 1 month. I was irate. Problem was that for warranty I had to contact the seller who isn’t still in business, and was in St. Louis, while I have moved several times and now live in Oklahoma. No, I didn’t get a refund, I haven’t seen the receipt in about 17 years.

So I got to thinking. Mattresses often last 10 to 20 years. In any given year 5% to 10 % have to be replaced. What if we transition to a localized economy because the national economy and infrastructure collapse? Well, in the past beds didn’t use spring mattresses.

Crooked Tree Farms has a PDF file, laying out how to construct and string a Rope Bed. For real. No springs. In fact Crooked Tree Farms includes a number of 18th century living history designs and information. Hint: Most people in the 18th Century weren’t connected to the national energy or transportation grids, because there weren’t none. If you want to get by with less electricity, there are a couple of alternatives here, from period sewing issues to furniture and shelter information.

Free Woodworking Stuff has a list of plans for beds. Included is one from the Furniture Gallery of House Greydragon “devoted to attempting to recreate (and live in) the 14th century”. No, that isn’t a typo – but it is a hobby interest in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Along with quality tools at GarrettWade, is a plan for a rope bed.

I found a variation, a modernized version that addresses some issues with the rope bed – they sag, the ropes need retensioning (frequently!), and two or more occupants will roll together in the center. The last might or might not be a problem, depending on who the occupants are. The MtMan list variation uses the rope to hold the bed together – but a sheet of 5/8″ plywood makes this a full-slatted bed. It is interesting, too how mortises and butt hinges are used to tie the sides and head and foot boards together.

CurrentMiddleAges lists resources for plans and options on 12th-16th century furniture, including beds. Country Bed.com illustrates one method of stringing the rope, and includes diagrams and sells a straining wrench, a wooden device made to tighten rope. The Stamford Historical Society illustrates another example of a colonial era bed wrench.

Trod.org (The Realm of Darkness fantasy world) journals making a hybrid rope bed for personal use.

Mattresses didn’t always come stuffed with cotton and springs. Rushes, grasses, wool and skins have been used between the tired body and the resting place. Keeping mice and bugs out might be an issue, though. And one might look forward to spring cleaning, as a time to refresh the mattress!

So I was reading Sharon’s concerns on Casaubon’s Book about Permaculture and Transition (Part 1 and Part 2). And followed to Rob’s response at Transition Culture.

The South Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project

Along in the comments to Rob’s piece, Risa B mentioned the Bean and Grain Project. So I Googled that. It turns out the South Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project is a modest start to reintroduce the practices of growing food on farmland. Currently 60% of the rich farmlands of Oregon’s Willamette Valley is planted in rye and fescue grass seed. I read about this on the Post Carbon Eugene site, Mud City Press Bean and Grain page, and the Friends of Family Farmers Bean and Grain page.

Small Farmers Journal

Now, the Friends of Family Farmers site name got me thinking of Sisters, OR, and the Small Farmers Journal – a long time and important publication to the Draft Horse, Oxen, and horse farming communities. So, I checked their site, www.SmallFarmersJournal.com. And, yep, there it is. Still publishing after 25 to 30 years.

The cover picture up today includes a farmer striding from the field, with a smile, and bundle of something under an arm, and a bushel basked of vegetables under the other.

And that got me thinking.

I told you that story, so I could tell you this one.

Containers used to tend to last a bit. When a bucket was an empty five gallon purchase of grease – the steel thing lasted until it well rusted through. While it was tight, you hauled water or whatever. After it started leaking, you just carried dry feeds and things. Rusted badly? Trash can. Or final container for used parts that might be useful to cobble up a fix for something else that breaks. “Reuse” isn’t all that new a concept.

Baskets.

I can remember having a few baskets around Dad’s farm, when I was a little nipper. I imagine they came with peaches in them, or maybe apricots. So I Googled that. Baskets, that is. And found the Texas Basket Company. They sell bushel baskets by the dozen, about 30 pounds for 12, the minimum order, at $2.53 or so each, that would be $30.36 a dozen, plus shipping and tax. Unless you want them colored – there are bunches of color options, single and two colors. And half-bushel baskets, etc.

Wow. The old-timey thin wooden baskets. Board bottom for seafood, or round bottom, etc. With care, I imagine they will gather and store apples and other fruits and veggies for years. Get together with a neighbor for a handful each, or stock up for a CSA gathering of tomatoes. And Texas Basket isn’t the only one.

Hubert.com (866-482-4357) lists many and varied styles, shapes, and sizes of baskets for active use, or fruit and vegetable presentation accessories.

Little Rock Crate and Basket lists baskets for Home Decor, for Fruit and Vegetables, and for Seafood use.

All three carry peck and bushel baskets. A peck is 1/4 bushel, in case you notice they have bushel, 1/2 bushel, peck, 1/2 peck, and 1/4 peck sizes.

The song.

I guess the song (Bushel and a Peck, from the musical show Guys and Dolls) just really harps on the bushel full and overflowing – 25% more than full.

I love you,
a bushel and a peck,
a bushel and a peck
and a hug around the neck!

Whatever. But baskets are still around, and at moderately reasonable prices for a durable work tool for gathering garden, field, and orchard produce, leaves and clippings, or other bulk management needs when you really don’t want to buy a plastic bucket from Wal-Mart, or another 5 gallons of paint from Sherwin Williams. Or a five gallon pail of grease.

First, the way Wal-Mart has been dropping product lines and raising food prices continues.

The Great Value store brand pudding cups I like – still gone. And there are other products that they have dropped since the last time I got it. It isn’t really drastic, and they move stuff around rather than leave blank shelves, but they are changing.

The Peak Oil premise claims that the end of cheap energy will make shipping food more expensive. And the increase in energy cost will also make food unavailable.

The crunch in credit availability means that businesses have to operate using cash instead of credit. This means that having very much product in inventory doesn’t make sense. Changes from volume buying practices will also increase pressure to raise prices.

The Ekco 1045659 Can and Bottle Opener – the “Miracle Turn”

Ekco makes a nifty can opener. It has been around for decades, works nicely. Chromed steel, it is moderately inexpensive, but doesn’t look sleek and sexy and big plastic handles or nifty “easy” motors. You spread the lever from the handle, slip it onto the lip of the can, squeeze the lever and begin turning the thumb dial. Cut the top of the can off, and voiler! an open tin can, just like Grandma did it.

It seems that the only major distributor still carrying Ekco products – is Ace Hardware stores. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc. have all dropped the very functional Ekco steel gizmos for plasic and nylon handled stuff with better markup. I keep mine in the drawer, so appearance doesn’t matter near as much as the fact it doesn’t bind up like the others, or take up as much room in the drawer. The one I use today I got at a flea market some 6 years ago or so.

So I thought I would plan on a replacement – eventually they start to rust, and .. stuff happens. Anyway, I looked at a couple of stores, didn’t find what I wanted. I Googled Ekco can openers. I found that World Kitchen distributes the Ekco can opener to Ace Hardware stores. And Brandt’s Hardware in Ponca City, OK, doesn’t carry the one I want. But they would special order me one .. er, three. Three is the minimum number the store could order. So I have three spares – ought to last me and my nephew for years.

This is the Miracle Roll model. The Miracle Turn is similar – except no handles. A tab latches onto the side of the can, and, with a minimum of operator skill, easily opens a tin can. It is smaller, easier to pack of you need to, and works well. But I wanted the 6 3/4″ long handled version.

The scary word – scarcity.

There are often ways to work around high prices during recession and inflation. But scarcity – too few products for the demand – that is really tough to get around. For necessities – scarcity will equal violence.

Can openers are a luxury. In need, you can bash a can with a rock or rod or another can until one splits – and you can try to catch the contents. Use a screwdriver to pierce and pry – that would work. A knife, that would dull the blade, but solve the immediate problem of getting into the can. Just beware – cleanliness counts. And dull knives cause more injuries than the sharpest knives – and the best knives are may break or shatter.

But what happens when the stores in town no longer have Ramen noodles – or boullion cubes? What when the last gas station open runs out?

When the tires that have gone to $100 and $150 each aren’t available for that 1991 Ford Escort Wagon? (down to a single tire line in this size, at Wal-Mart).

Truly green

High prices are an annoyance, compared to scarcity. Instead of hollering about making Hummer’s “green” – how about requiring a standard tire size, a “green” wheel for each car that takes a standard size of tire?

Why not focus now on adapting to a reduced set of standard maintenance items – so more people are likely to have access to the tires and windshield wipers and other needed replacement items?

Standard bicycle tires, too.

Not all metal forming requires a forge or acetylene torch.

Some amazing projects can be done using metal spinning.  Today the equipment often starts with a wood lathe, a form. and a few tools.  The work piece spins at an appropriate speed for the tools and the dimension of the work piece.

The lathe has been around since long before the electric motor.  Non-electric power sources, I imagine, have included apprentices or helpers manually whirling a flywheel;, water-wheel power, windmill, steam, pedal-powered like a bicycle, a sharbening wheel, or a potters wheel.  Adapting to one or more of these power sources should keep the budding craftsman or artist in business.

If you don’t get sidetracked, throwing pottery crafts and art, or sharpening blades, or other rotating crafts, arts, and manufacturing processes.  Windmills in the US Midwest typically devolved to “used to pump water on Grandpa’s farm.”  Aeromotor, one of the premier makers of shallow water well pumping systems, is still in business, still  selling repair parts and new systems.

Google Books includes the classic lathe and metal spinning book, “Lathe Work for Beginners” By Raymond Francis Yates, and “Turning Lathes” By James Lukin.  Amazon.com carries  The Art of Metal Spinning: A Step-By-Step Guide to Hand-Spinning by Paul G. Wiley :

Written by a professional metal spinning artisan with twenty five years’ experience in the art, design and automobile aftermarket fields. This is the perfect workshop companion for anyone interested in learning this 3,000 year old craft.

Amazon.com also carries Sheet Metal Handbook: How to Form and Shape Sheet Metal for Competition, Custom and Restoration Use by Ron and Sue Fournier, and Turning Lathes: A Guide to Turning, Screw Cutting, Metal Spinning and Ornamental Turning by James Lukin.

The obvious application for metal spinning is making seamless bowls.  And caps for fence posts.  And shaped cups for  wind and water devices.  By combining shaped forms, metal spinning – then cutting shapes from an intermediate curved  surface, a wide variety of metal parts can be created.

Metal spinning.  Not an award for turning around and around and around in place.

How much do you know about cell phones?  How well can you count on the cell tower that serves your corner of the world?  Can your local cell survive a credit crisis or an immense energy price hike?

Tam at View From The Porch mentioned signaling with Morse Code via smoke signals – I think, mostly in jest.

But that got me looking around.  I recalled that ARRL – American Radio Relay League, the major national organization of amateur (ham) radio operators – had material and training tools to pass FCC license tests to operate radios in the US.  One of the tests includes the ability to receive and send Morse Code.  There are several  classes and computer programs listed on their CW page.

Remember ‘Dit-dit-dit-dah-dah-dah-dit-dit-dit’ (three short, three long, three short)?  Morse code for SOS, sometimes  called ’save our ship’, but really just a simple code, similar to 9-1-1 – an accepted code for a call for help.  Watch Steven Segal in “Under Siege” – the sailors locked in the fo’cstle (under deck in the pointy end of the ship up front) thump on the side of the ship with a big board to sound out SOS.  And this isn’t the only movie that SOS appears in.

Before the cell phone, and in areas not served by cell phones, the ARRL has served as emergency communications networks working with disaster relief and on their own.  They help hasten recovery, reassure loved ones, get calls for assistance out.  During war time they have provided extra means of communications.  There is gear available that doesn’t depend on the electric grid being available – batteries, hand cranked  radios, portable or fixed antennaes.  And getting a license to operate takes a bit of time and practice.  But having the facilities can help communicate with locals and those far away, using signals bounced around the globe,  repeated by other stations, patched onto local phone services.

If you want to try ham radio, you join the ranks of generations of people interested in the magic of radio communications, electronics, the wonder of the radio spectrum, and an interest in touching others.  Learn the rules, the etiquette,  and the equipment.  Be courteous, be responsible, and accept the obligations to help your community and others.

And keep in touch.

Industrial Market Trends. Ooh, the phrase just slides over the lips, delights the ear. Well, maybe not. While the name of the newsletter, published by the Thomas business register people, is thrilling, what is even better is the way it highlights businesses in niches.

This article provides links to a variety of Do It Yourself (DIY) and self-help and how-to web sites. From Lowe’s How-To Library to DoItYourself.com, find guidance on how to fix it, how to find tools, how to improve it.

Then there is the local business that Sharon wants us to start. The IMT article on turning your hobby into a business isn’t earthshaking, but does remind us of many of the points to consider.

Enjoy!

Why hasn’t someone produced an add-on for the big rigs, to capture energy from the wheels during breaking and store it for accelerating? Something that bolts onto existing wheels and drive trains?

Maybe a battery, a fuel cel, for gosh sakes, what about a compressed air reservoir? Something to capture the energy expended to break for a traffic light, and apply to accelerating on to the next obstacle.

Verde at Justice Desserts (Of things from just desserts, to just deserts. Urban Homesteading in an uncertain world) is counting down 16 more days, trying to meet a food storage challenge.

An amazing calculator link is to the LDS (Mormon) library (http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm), that estimates the food a family needs, for a year. You may not have a year’s food stored, yet. But if things get tight(er), getting started now will be a comfort then.

As Verde put it today,

.. She has been encouraging level headed, balanced food storage. This includes buying what you eat and eating what you buy and buying extra each time you shop. ..

and

Please note: I by far favor a long thought out stocking up of things you will actually use and beginning to adjusting your diet to eating closer to whole foods. We eat beans and home ground grains and fruit from the tree every week, but if you eat a lot of fast food, you have to develop the ability to digest this stuff so start slowly. If you start all at once, you will feel ill. Food storage must be rotated and maintained.

What do plan on cooking in an emergency? OK, make it for dinner this week and see how well you digest it. Don’t like it? Don’t store it.

When Verde mentioned buying a bag of wheat from a farmer ($25/50 pound bag; about market price now. If you buy ’seed’ wheat, be sure it has *not* been treated or inoculated, and it is *not* the Monsanto and other ‘Roundup Ready’ tailored commercial species – you get into serious copyright and patent crap, if they think you might keep or sell or trade some of the wheat to plant.

But I wondered – wheat. The last thing I did with ‘wheat berries’ (seed) was to drop a couple tablespoons in a quart jar of water, and let it ferment in the cupboard until the water got cloudy and it bubbled. Then I started drinking a cup or so, and replacing the water, each day for a week. And repeat. Called ‘rejuvelac’ (I lived in California, just south of San Francisco) this was supposed to be part of a ‘colon cleansing’ program, and made ‘lactobacillus’ from non-dairy sources. That was 30 years ago, and hasn’t killed me yet. CA was strange.

So I Googled for ‘home grain grinder’. And, wow.

• http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/
• http://www.internet-grocer.net/grinders.htm
• http://goldengraingrinder.com/
• http://www.haferboy.com/
• http://www.beatingstrong.com/grain-mills.html

Yes. There are grain grinders, and other home gadgets. Not cheap – several are $200-$400 dollars. Some are manual, some for one grain only. If you are thinking Peak Oil, you are probably looking for something that works after the electricity is disconnected.

One site, allexperts.com, offers some advice in choosing a grain grinder.

Now, if I can just figure out how to process sugar beets. I mean, I feed sugar beet shreds now as part of my pony’s feed. The beets don’t seem hard to grow. And having a supply of sugar to trade seems attractive. (Sugar beets are shredded at the factory, to release juices better. After the sugar juice is extracted, the resulting pulp is dried. After the goat, horse, cow, etc. eats it, the digestion process converts the beet pulp to a high quality feed – good calories, low starch and sugar, fair fiber. Use to provide safe, extra energy for slicking up show animals, etc. I use it to simplify feeding my pony vegetable oil instead of grain. It is better for most draft horses (EPSM), and good feed plan for all horses, mules, ponies. 2 c. veggie oil/1,000 lbs/day). Which reminds me. I need to figure how to produce vegetable oil, too. Carrots, grass hay – I might be able to guess at that.