Today is Remembrance Day, November the 11th. If you are like me, you will undoubtedly spend some time thinking about death, war, and the millions of young men whose lives have been snuffed out by armed conflicts in the 20th Century.
Many will say "Thank a soldier, they're the reason that you have the freedom you enjoy today!" or "Let's remember those who died for your freedom." and maybe put a picture of a poppy as their Facebook profile picture. I have no doubt that these people are sincere, and truly grateful for their lives, just as I am grateful to live in the relative peace that I enjoy now.
Many years ago, I once wore a military uniform. For 8 years, I was part of Canada's Reserve Forces, although I worked full time for a few years. I frequently had people approach me and tell me that they "appreciate what I do", and I wanted to say,
"Don't thank me, I haven't done anything!"
Just because I wore a multicolored uniform with badges and a hat does not make me a hero. No man becomes a hero because of his job. Do you want to know what my role in the military was? I filled out paperwork, and sat in front of a computer all day. It was boring, and I realized early that I'm not fit for a desk job.
On the other hand, my grandfather Manny volunteered with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 40's, becoming part of an air crew. His aircraft would have been responsible for flying across the English channel, and finding military targets to destroy. Many of these would have been in occupied France, and many more would have been in Germany. Ultimately, the efforts of many millions were successful, and the Nazi regime was destroyed, although Manny was eventually shot down and captured before the final end.
World War 1 and 2 ended with 100+ million people dead, and many millions more wounded and homeless. The monetary cost of war was astronomical, and there isn't a government still around that isn't STILL paying the debt that was incurred. In the US, the government used the war efforts to enact an Income Tax, expand the use of paper money, and force millions of young men to join the military, and ultimately die in muddy and frozen trenches. These are not good things, this is not what "freedom" looks like. Yet, we call these the "good wars", and talk about how "we would be speaking German now" if not for these horrible, costly wars.
World War 1 started with a very small land dispute, and turned into a raging world conflict, and World War 2 was prompted when a failed painter took advantage of a demoralized German population to seize power and enact his twisted vision of a perfect world. Many don't realize that Germany had been economically crushed by the Versailles Treaty, and had been paying millions of dollars in gold to France, allegedly to "repay" the damage caused by WW1. The German population was starving, and their money was worthless. They wanted a solution, and Hitler provided it.
Of course, once the war had begun, it needed to be stopped. Terrible things were done by both the Allies, and the Nazis. Entire cities filled with innocent people were killed by bombing, including two Japanese cities where 250,000 civilians were murdered by atomic weapons, when Japan was already on the brink of surrender. We found out later that the Americans simply wanted to see what the bombs would do to a city...and today, there are enough nukes around to destroy all life on earth 10 times over.
Was this good? No. Nothing good ever comes of war, just death and misery. No one really wins, but you better believe that there are losers! Nevertheless, I recognize something about those who volunteered to fight. They really thought they were doing something good. They wanted to help, although I suspect many of them were simply thrilled by the excitement of "War".
I'm not going to talk about the Afghanistan war, or Korea, or Vietnam, or peacekeeping missions. I'm only going to say this. War is hell, and those who see it will find that a piece of that hell still lives inside them. The wars of the 20th century were fought for Europe and Asia, but everyone ultimately suffered. We are not more free because of war, we are simply alive, and grateful to be so.
To those who died, I will say, "I'm sorry you are dead". To those who lived, I will say, "I am glad you survived". We will never know what the world might have been without war, but I know this; we will soon forget about the horror, the death, disease and misery, and the world will eventually be at war again. We should avoid this at all costs, but we won't. I just hope that my children, and yours don't become victims like so many have before us. If you remember anything, remember that!
Monday, November 11, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
The Untouchables
Article - The Untouchables
By Adam L Schneider
In a far
corner of the world, you stand on a crowded street, barely a street in fact,
and more a smear of dirt buried beneath the jostling throngs of human bodies
heading in every direction. So many
people! More than a billion people live
in India , and
they all seem to be on this street with you.
As you scan the faces, you see that there are many different shades of
skin color. India
is home to 25 separate provinces, each with it’s own language. Your eyes are drawn to a very dark skinned
man, hauling a crude wheelbarrow filled with refuse. The crowd seems to part around him, as if he
were somehow surrounded by an invisible forcefield. Another dark skinned man is seen in a
doorway, holding a piece of leather.
Your eyes meet quickly, and he looks away. His wife is a shy silhouette behind him, not
daring to even appear in public. As you
continue, you see many more people performing menial tasks, dirty chores, and
even cleaning up human waste. They all seem
to have very dark skin, and no one will go near them. It’s as if they were…untouchable.
Many of these “untouchables”, or
Dalit (as they are known in India) end up as labourers, leatherworkers,
butchers, garbage collectors, and historically, they were segregated from the
regular population to the point that no one would dare even brush against them
by accident.
Today, the
government in India
has enacted many laws to protect these people, and the caste system is fading
into the past. Dalits today hold 17% of India ’s
jobs, and they’ve been elected to political office on every level,
repeatedly. Great job India ! Now, pack up your bags, and we’ll fly back to
North America . It
just so happens to be Sunday, and, what a coincidence, there is a big, beautiful
church right next door to the airport!
You’re just in time for the morning service, and you’re even dressed for
the occasion, with your buttoned up collar shirt, and pressed slacks. Some one even polished your wingtip shoes
while you were on the airplane! Boy,
that Westjet sure thinks of everything.
As the
service ends, you still feel disoriented from the plane ride, almost as though
you were still back on that narrow crowded street in rural India ,
trying to press your way through the crushing mass of people. You briefly remember the Dalits you saw, and
you say a thankful prayer that there is no “caste” system in your
hometown. As the congregation stands to
leave, most are joking and laughing, talking about plans, or telling their
friends about the past week. Not
everyone gets up, though. A few people
are still sitting, not talking, or laughing, or doing anything at all. Most of these people will wait for everyone
else to leave, then slip out the door, nearly invisible. The only reason you noticed them, is that the
look on their face seems strangely familiar…like you’ve seen people like that
somewhere else.
Every
church has them. The
“untouchables”. They might be socially
awkward, shy, angry, or they might be strange looking, or even downright
ugly. Parents whisper to their children,
“Don’t go near Mr Laughstooloud, he might be dangerous!”, and even the ushers
seem to be uncomfortable greeting them.
Once in a while, a brave soul will make a point to say, “Hey, how’re ya
doin!” in a syrupy voice, shake their hand, utter some banal phrase like, “Boy
it’s cold out there today, huh?”, and then make a run for it. That’s fine for starters, but then what? This person didn’t come to shake random
people’s hands and wax on about the weather, they came because they NEEDED
SOMETHING, and the Body of Jesus Christ, the Believers, the Church, seemed to
be a place to get it!
A few
minutes ago, I got a text from a friend of mine who is the very definition of
“untouchable”. It’s his birthday today,
and I’m the only one who remembered. His
texts are childish, and riddled with spelling errors, but he has a brain
injury, so that’s no surprise. I’m often
awakened by a text, or rarely, a phone call at 2 or 3 in the morning, where he
tells me how sick he is of life, and how he wants to “let go”. If you saw this guy at church, you would
never know he was depressed, he hides it beneath awkward humour, lame jokes,
and constant laughter. Most people roll
their eyes, and just walk away, if they don’t simply avoid or ignore him.
I decided
long ago, that this man was my friend no matter what. No matter how many times he woke me up with
late night text messages, or if I could see food on his teeth, or dead skin in
his beard when he talks, I’ve decided that he’s my friend, and deserves my
attention. When I’m at church, I make a
point to have a conversation with him, short, but personal. I text him back when he sends a message (not
always right away). I remember details
about his life, the girl he likes, the things he does for fun, and when he says,
“I love you bro!”, I say it right back, because that’s what friends do, they
share the love that Jesus showed to us!
I once
thought of my friend as “my little project”, but I’ve grown beyond that. Now, he’s just my friend. I know that Jesus sent him my way, and that’s
fine with me! I asked for it, after
all. I prayed to God, “Oh Lord, let me serve
you!”, and I put my hands down, turned around, and there was my ministry, right
in front of me. Did you think that God
was going to send you to Africa ? Thailand ? Mexico ? Or, are you willing to find that one person,
the “untouchable”, and become a missionary without leaving your chair?
Here’s what
you need to do: Stop pretending that
you’re too awesome to talk to these people, sit your hiney down in the chair
next to them, and introduce yourself.
When they talk, listen and ask questions. If someone you know stops by and interrupts,
tell them you’re busy! Your new friend
needs your attention, and you’re going to give it, or you've failed the first
mission God gave ever gave you, you know the one that goes “Love your Neighbour”? You don’t need to give them your phone number
and a house key, but next week, when you see them again, greet them by name,
and do the same thing you did before.
You can only do what you can, but do something!
Maybe it
will never happen, but if everyone in church made a point to make friends with
a stranger, to get to know newcomers, or to make friends with that guy whose
beard looks like it might actually contain a bee’s nest, there would be no
untouchables in church, and there would be far less pride and arrogance in His
Body.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Life Lessons from my new job
When you think philosophy, great wisdom, and deep understanding of life, what do you see yourself doing? I'm sure most of you would picture yourself sitting at the feet of a wizened old monk, soaking in the 1,000 year old nuggets of spiritual wisdom falling from his sun-baked lips? Or maybe you see yourself taking a 3 day trek into the Amazon jungle to converse with the native, ponder life, and maybe lick a few of those toads, (you know, for science).
Well, I bet the last place you would imagine finding the meaning of life is while pouring a concrete garage pad, or cutting plywood pieces to make a mold for someone's retaining wall. Grasshopper, let me enlighten you.
PRELUDE
Over this last year, we have been struggling to pay bills, and of course, the banks were no help. Even though we don't have much debt, it's all very short term, and needs to be rolled into a proper mortgage. Unfortunately, we don't have a "standard" home, and it's tough to get a mortgage on a mobile home. It didn't help that my credit rating has taken a hit, because of some "interesting times" (as the Chinese proverb would call it) earlier this year. The only option I have to improve my credit rating is to pay all of my bills fully, on time, and wait for it to go up. Since we have absolutely no savings, I decided that I needed to work a part-time job. We needed to have a couple thousand dollars just stashed away. I had a minimum wage job for a couple of months, before I decided that my time was worth more than $11/hr. It occurred to me that with the Great Alberta Flood only a few months behind us, there would be a need for laborers to clean up the many thousands of destroyed homes and businesses, and I was correct! Not only that, but the construction trades have been exploding with work, and are desperate for workers. So, I answered an ad on Kijiji, and literally, the next day, I was at work!
As a farmer, I have some limited experience with construction materials, especially wood. I've use concrete and plaster for some projects, so I figured I would do ok. The company I've worked for for 3 days does "form work, and flat work", which is construction-speak for walls, and floors.
LESSON 1 - SHOW UP
When I responded to the ad, the foreman emailed me an address and a time. That's it. So, at 8 am, I arrived at the address, and found a guy in a Bobcat, and immediately he directed me to work raking gravel. We worked for about 12 hours that day, and during the course of the day, I learned that the foreman had asked his co-worker "Did Adam show up? Was he on time? Does he have a car?" When he learned the answers, he was AMAZED, and I was amazed that he was amazed. Why would it be amazing that I showed up?
Anyone who has/does work in the trades already knows the answer, but for the rest of you, allow me to give you enlightenment. Unlike in the office world, construction workers and laborers are notoriously unreliable. Men routinely fail to report for work, and don't bother calling, or giving a reason. Just yesterday, my co-worker told me "We got a new guy starting today", and sure enough, he did NOT show up. We found out later, that he was in some sort of legal trouble, and I found the entire situation to be quite amusing. I just couldn't believe that someone would just...not be there when there was $23/hr waiting for them.
LESSON 2 - BE READY
My experience with concrete before this week consisted of filling some post-holes, and plastering a ferro-cement water tank. When I was 18, I helped build a sidewalk. So, in other words, pretty much nothing. Despite that, when I arrived at the site, I had every hand tool I owned, steel-toed boots, hard hat, and a huge lunch. After 1/2 hr, I was loaning tools to the two experienced guys, who had left some important items at another site. It was immensely satisfying to say "Oh, I've got one of those, let me get it for you!".
Here's the bald truth: I had run out and purchased a bunch of these tools the day before, just in case. I had never worn a hard hat, nor used a chalk-line. My boots were brand new, and my tool-belt fresh off the shelf. Despite that, when I stepped out, I looked ready, and I felt ready. No one had to tell me to wear proper gear, or bring proper tools.
LESSON 3 - DO SOMETHING, EVEN IF IT'S WRONG
Yes, grasshopper, this is the trickiest step. There is a saying in Swahili, "It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission". When I showed up, I was so green, you could have used me as the background of a new Star Wars movie. I was aware of some basic facts, like, concrete is hard, nails go pointy-end down, don't hammer your thumb, etc, but there are all kinds of things I was completely ignorant of, and more than once I felt like a complete numbskull. None the less, I watched intently every single time the experienced guys did anything at all. When there was any kind of task that looked like it needed to be done, I jumped in. A couple times the foreman had to say "No, it's ok, I'll do that", which is a polite way of saying "You're going to screw it up, dummy." I still jumped in, each time. Eventually, they trusted me with some tasks that were more advanced, like hand-floating the concrete, vibrating, and cutting plywood forms.
The second day, the boss left me on my own, with instructions to strip some wood off the concrete on a house basement. It was very physical work, and I was already tired from the day before. I accidentally chipped a small piece off of a driveway in my efforts to dislodge a stubborn piece of rebar. Rather than hide it, I just said, "Yeah, that was me." The site foreman made an angry face, shook his head, but...that was it. I offered to repair it (right, with my sooper skillz), and apologized, but there wasn't really anything else to be done. I owned my mistake, and offered to make it right. Take that!
SUMMARY
Lesson 1 - I cannot emphasize how important this is. When a promise exits your lips, such as "I will be there at 8 am", your physical body had better be there at 8 am, or better yet, 7:50! Your reputation in this world is more valuable than your skills. Anyone who has ever called a plumber will agree, a man who keeps his word is pretty rare. If you can't make it, CALL! Give an alternate time, and then be early for the next week. You could be the most skilled concrete-man in the world, able to hand float a statue of Michelangelo, or power-trowel a floor using only one hand, but if you are unreliable, then you are useless. Simple as that.
SHOW UP
Lesson 2 - Did you know that Youtube has 18 videos showing you how to replace the brake pads on a late model Toyota Corolla? There are probably 600 videos on basic construction techniques, like "How to hammer a piece of wood to another piece of wood, using a large metal object with a flat spot, commonly called a 'hammer'." If I hadn't been at least partially aware of basic construction techniques and terminology, I probably would have been completely useless, instead of just partially useless. I further "cemented" (see what I did there?) my usefulness by having all kinds of inexpensive, yet very handy tools, like a hammer, belt, and putting them into action when they were needed.
BE READY
Lesson 3 - On day 1, the foreman of our small, ragtag team had a little job on the side. Nothing big, just pouring 2,000 square feet of concrete. Did I mention that we had already worked a full day? Right. Every single task that I was asked to do was completely new to me. The foreman kept a steady stream of commands going, "Lift the rebar, tap the edges, spray the concrete, hammer this peg down, get me a sandwich!" And I was literally tripping over my boots to keep up, at least at first. After the second hour, I was doing all of the above, without being asked. When I saw a task, I tried to do it. The two guys I worked with seemed very impressed, not with my sooper skillz, but with the fact that I DID something, even if it was fairly useless. We all knew that they could have done 95% of the work without me, but that 5% made a difference. Concrete is an unforgiving master, caring not for your schedule. When it hardens, it cannot be "unhardened". I allowed these guys to concentrate on the skilled tasks, while I handled the dummy work. We got the job done, and I earned a crisp plastic $100 bill. Yeah, we have plastic money here in Canada. It has a little window in it too, you can see through it.
DO SOMETHING
Is this a complete list? No. You also need to have an aptitude for learning, a humble attitude, the ability to both lead and follow, and it doesn't hurt to be in good physical shape. This is just a few lessons from my first week working a demanding job
Well, I bet the last place you would imagine finding the meaning of life is while pouring a concrete garage pad, or cutting plywood pieces to make a mold for someone's retaining wall. Grasshopper, let me enlighten you.
PRELUDE
Over this last year, we have been struggling to pay bills, and of course, the banks were no help. Even though we don't have much debt, it's all very short term, and needs to be rolled into a proper mortgage. Unfortunately, we don't have a "standard" home, and it's tough to get a mortgage on a mobile home. It didn't help that my credit rating has taken a hit, because of some "interesting times" (as the Chinese proverb would call it) earlier this year. The only option I have to improve my credit rating is to pay all of my bills fully, on time, and wait for it to go up. Since we have absolutely no savings, I decided that I needed to work a part-time job. We needed to have a couple thousand dollars just stashed away. I had a minimum wage job for a couple of months, before I decided that my time was worth more than $11/hr. It occurred to me that with the Great Alberta Flood only a few months behind us, there would be a need for laborers to clean up the many thousands of destroyed homes and businesses, and I was correct! Not only that, but the construction trades have been exploding with work, and are desperate for workers. So, I answered an ad on Kijiji, and literally, the next day, I was at work!
As a farmer, I have some limited experience with construction materials, especially wood. I've use concrete and plaster for some projects, so I figured I would do ok. The company I've worked for for 3 days does "form work, and flat work", which is construction-speak for walls, and floors.
LESSON 1 - SHOW UP
When I responded to the ad, the foreman emailed me an address and a time. That's it. So, at 8 am, I arrived at the address, and found a guy in a Bobcat, and immediately he directed me to work raking gravel. We worked for about 12 hours that day, and during the course of the day, I learned that the foreman had asked his co-worker "Did Adam show up? Was he on time? Does he have a car?" When he learned the answers, he was AMAZED, and I was amazed that he was amazed. Why would it be amazing that I showed up?
Anyone who has/does work in the trades already knows the answer, but for the rest of you, allow me to give you enlightenment. Unlike in the office world, construction workers and laborers are notoriously unreliable. Men routinely fail to report for work, and don't bother calling, or giving a reason. Just yesterday, my co-worker told me "We got a new guy starting today", and sure enough, he did NOT show up. We found out later, that he was in some sort of legal trouble, and I found the entire situation to be quite amusing. I just couldn't believe that someone would just...not be there when there was $23/hr waiting for them.
LESSON 2 - BE READY
My experience with concrete before this week consisted of filling some post-holes, and plastering a ferro-cement water tank. When I was 18, I helped build a sidewalk. So, in other words, pretty much nothing. Despite that, when I arrived at the site, I had every hand tool I owned, steel-toed boots, hard hat, and a huge lunch. After 1/2 hr, I was loaning tools to the two experienced guys, who had left some important items at another site. It was immensely satisfying to say "Oh, I've got one of those, let me get it for you!".
Here's the bald truth: I had run out and purchased a bunch of these tools the day before, just in case. I had never worn a hard hat, nor used a chalk-line. My boots were brand new, and my tool-belt fresh off the shelf. Despite that, when I stepped out, I looked ready, and I felt ready. No one had to tell me to wear proper gear, or bring proper tools.
LESSON 3 - DO SOMETHING, EVEN IF IT'S WRONG
Yes, grasshopper, this is the trickiest step. There is a saying in Swahili, "It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission". When I showed up, I was so green, you could have used me as the background of a new Star Wars movie. I was aware of some basic facts, like, concrete is hard, nails go pointy-end down, don't hammer your thumb, etc, but there are all kinds of things I was completely ignorant of, and more than once I felt like a complete numbskull. None the less, I watched intently every single time the experienced guys did anything at all. When there was any kind of task that looked like it needed to be done, I jumped in. A couple times the foreman had to say "No, it's ok, I'll do that", which is a polite way of saying "You're going to screw it up, dummy." I still jumped in, each time. Eventually, they trusted me with some tasks that were more advanced, like hand-floating the concrete, vibrating, and cutting plywood forms.
The second day, the boss left me on my own, with instructions to strip some wood off the concrete on a house basement. It was very physical work, and I was already tired from the day before. I accidentally chipped a small piece off of a driveway in my efforts to dislodge a stubborn piece of rebar. Rather than hide it, I just said, "Yeah, that was me." The site foreman made an angry face, shook his head, but...that was it. I offered to repair it (right, with my sooper skillz), and apologized, but there wasn't really anything else to be done. I owned my mistake, and offered to make it right. Take that!
SUMMARY
Lesson 1 - I cannot emphasize how important this is. When a promise exits your lips, such as "I will be there at 8 am", your physical body had better be there at 8 am, or better yet, 7:50! Your reputation in this world is more valuable than your skills. Anyone who has ever called a plumber will agree, a man who keeps his word is pretty rare. If you can't make it, CALL! Give an alternate time, and then be early for the next week. You could be the most skilled concrete-man in the world, able to hand float a statue of Michelangelo, or power-trowel a floor using only one hand, but if you are unreliable, then you are useless. Simple as that.
SHOW UP
Lesson 2 - Did you know that Youtube has 18 videos showing you how to replace the brake pads on a late model Toyota Corolla? There are probably 600 videos on basic construction techniques, like "How to hammer a piece of wood to another piece of wood, using a large metal object with a flat spot, commonly called a 'hammer'." If I hadn't been at least partially aware of basic construction techniques and terminology, I probably would have been completely useless, instead of just partially useless. I further "cemented" (see what I did there?) my usefulness by having all kinds of inexpensive, yet very handy tools, like a hammer, belt, and putting them into action when they were needed.
BE READY
Lesson 3 - On day 1, the foreman of our small, ragtag team had a little job on the side. Nothing big, just pouring 2,000 square feet of concrete. Did I mention that we had already worked a full day? Right. Every single task that I was asked to do was completely new to me. The foreman kept a steady stream of commands going, "Lift the rebar, tap the edges, spray the concrete, hammer this peg down, get me a sandwich!" And I was literally tripping over my boots to keep up, at least at first. After the second hour, I was doing all of the above, without being asked. When I saw a task, I tried to do it. The two guys I worked with seemed very impressed, not with my sooper skillz, but with the fact that I DID something, even if it was fairly useless. We all knew that they could have done 95% of the work without me, but that 5% made a difference. Concrete is an unforgiving master, caring not for your schedule. When it hardens, it cannot be "unhardened". I allowed these guys to concentrate on the skilled tasks, while I handled the dummy work. We got the job done, and I earned a crisp plastic $100 bill. Yeah, we have plastic money here in Canada. It has a little window in it too, you can see through it.
DO SOMETHING
Is this a complete list? No. You also need to have an aptitude for learning, a humble attitude, the ability to both lead and follow, and it doesn't hurt to be in good physical shape. This is just a few lessons from my first week working a demanding job
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Alberta Floods: an on-the-ground perspective
Before I begin, let me first say that, although I did lose some things in the flood, my home and family were perfectly safe and dry here in my community (I don't live in Calgary), and we were not personally hurt. I've spoken to hundred of people who lost nearly everything, and most of them will never be able to get enough government help or insurance money to cover the loss. I feel so very bad for all of those people, and I've been praying for you every day! In Alberta, insurance does not cover flooding, obviously it would be useful, but flood insurance is very expensive, and is almost non-existent, at least for homes and cars.
On Friday, June 21st 2013, 10+ Alberta communities experienced flooding on a scale so devastating, that more than 30% of people had to be evacuated for their safety. One town, High River, was literally emptied. No living human was permitted to remain, on threat of arrest! It sounds drastic, but four people have already been confirmed dead, and the entire town was under water. The whole thing. 13,000 people may have lost homes, businesses, cars, and possessions, and a few lost their lives when the surge came through. A huge number of those homes were buried up to the roof in water, and those houses will almost certainly be torn down. I would not be surprised if the entire town was reduced in long-term population by half or more, simply because people cannot afford to rebuild! The idea is staggering, especially considering that High River is one of my favorite places to shop. It has (had) a nice grocery store, farm store, and it was small enough that you can cross the entire thing in minutes. I had friends there, who almost certainly are homeless right this second!
Well, I won't drag the "emotional" part out. You get the picture, and it sucks no matter what angle you see it from. Here is my perspective on flooding:
People are funny creatures. We have access to amazing technology, we can send pictures across the world in milliseconds, speak any language with the miracle of Google Translate, and access the sum total of human knowledge from a device that fits in your pocket, yet most of us use that technology to take pictures of our food, or make duck faces in a mirror. If I were Nikolas Tesla, who invented AC electricity, I would be clawing my way back from the grave to rampage mankind!
So, people have all this knowledge available, and yet we fail to use it. We fail to remember that the Bow River flooded in 1902, 1929, 2005 and minor flooding in many other years besides. We build houses, made from sawdust and glue, with some tarpaper on the outside, right next to a river that has flooded more than 3 times in the last CENTURY, and just flooded again! Not to kick poor High River when she's down, but they JUST had a massive flood that caused major damage, perhaps 4 years ago. They called that one a "100 year flood", as if God had some kind of sand timer, and every 100 years he floods the river, and flips it over. That kind of arrogance means that we place buildings so close to the river, that people can walk out their back door and stand on the bank. Even if these flood occurred exactly 100 years apart, you are practically guaranteeing that your house will be flooded!
Insurance companies understand this much better than the rest of us. The very reason that flood insurance is so expensive, is that flooding is virtually GUARANTEED to happen. The only people who would buy the insurance, are the very same ones who build their house right next to water that has flooded in the past, and is guaranteed to flood again. I wouldn't sell insurance for that!
There are two kinds of flooding. First, it rains, and rains, and rains. The water simply cannot drain off quickly enough, and it starts stacking up, starting with the lowest level, ie, your basement. The watershed has a natural limit to its drainage, and this exceeds that. The flooding occurs in all low lying areas, but everyone gets a little taste of it, either in your basement, blocked storm drains, or leaky roofs. The biggest danger is in cities with lots of collection area, and lots of hills. The storm water starts barrelling through, and ends up blasting out manhole covers, flooding underpasses, or causing mudslides.
Then, you have flooding caused by someone else's rain. In Alberta, it only rained 36 mm in Calgary, but more than 140 mm in the mountains, which are the highest point. The water flows through the watershed in a "surge" and reaches the lowest level, ie, the basement of my office in downtown Calgary (true story). By that time, it has collected so much extra glop, that it resembles a mudslide, and leaves a 4 inch layer of silt when it leaves!
In "primitive" times, people did their farming, and planting on these flood plains. When the rivers flooded, the silt brought all kinds of minerals and nutrients, building fertility. It's no secret that flood plains are the most fertile land in the world. The main difference today, is that we now build houses on those same floodplains. I would like to suggest that this might be foolish, when combined with the following other facts: we have all kinds of technology to prevent flood water from entering our homes, and we aren't using ANY of it! The Netherlands was actually built on reclaimed seabed. Something like 40% of the land is below sea level, and is held back by dikes. Vancouver has built a kind of "seawall" around some of it's more vulnerable areas to protect from flood waters. We are capable of constructing dams that can hold massive amounts of water and last for a century. We can divert rivers, stop them up, or widen them. But, we didn't, and we paid the price! $100,000,000 in damage so far, and almost certainly many, many times that. A permanent flood wall may have cost $10,000,000, and would have been worth every penny.
Even temporary solutions seemed to have been ignored:
Many companies are selling a long rubber tube that can be filled with water, and braced in place to nearly block all flood waters. Other products include lightweight sandbags that absorb 20 times their weight in water, and can be stacked in minutes by one person. Placed around vulnerable doors and windows, $200 worth of these "sandbags" can prevent water from infiltrating into a basement, and could save the homeowner untold thousands.
I should probably quit while I'm ahead...after all, I deliberately left personal belongings inside my office KNOWING that it was at risk of flooding. It was only a couple small items, shoes etc, but I could have easily moved them. I simply didn't believe that the river could possibly get that high.
I have learned my lesson, Creator. I will never be so arrogant again. I hope that none of us will.
POSTSCRIPT
I would like to send some virtual High Fives to some heroes who showed real love to their neighbors, even putting their own lives in danger:
Cochrane Fire Dept - Not sure how you guys can even walk with those balls of steel, but you literally saved people lives, at the huge risk of your own! Wading into deep moving water is usually pretty inadvisable, but with no thought to your own lives, you saved many more.
High River RCMP/Sheriffs - 48 hours of hell, and it's still going. Good work, again, you literally saved lives, and you've watched your own homes disintegrate as well...
Calgary Civilians - Those people who the first thing they asked me, is "Where can I volunteer to help?" Mr Pond, Mr Hallett, your selfless attitudes are commendable.
Regular people with Couches - And, who offered those couches to the people displaced, no matter where they were from, and who they were!
Mayor Nenshi, City of Calgary - I got the distinct impression that you really cared about your city, and you kept everyone informed. That kind of devotion surely cost you something that you didn't have to give, and sets you apart from other politicians.
Calgary Fire/EMS/CPS/Transit - You did your job, and you did it well, even when your own homes were certainly at risk. Like me, I'm sure most of you wish you could have done more, but none of us knew that it would get THAT BAD!!!
I know that so many have done so much, and sorry that I didn't mention you, but you know who you are!
On Friday, June 21st 2013, 10+ Alberta communities experienced flooding on a scale so devastating, that more than 30% of people had to be evacuated for their safety. One town, High River, was literally emptied. No living human was permitted to remain, on threat of arrest! It sounds drastic, but four people have already been confirmed dead, and the entire town was under water. The whole thing. 13,000 people may have lost homes, businesses, cars, and possessions, and a few lost their lives when the surge came through. A huge number of those homes were buried up to the roof in water, and those houses will almost certainly be torn down. I would not be surprised if the entire town was reduced in long-term population by half or more, simply because people cannot afford to rebuild! The idea is staggering, especially considering that High River is one of my favorite places to shop. It has (had) a nice grocery store, farm store, and it was small enough that you can cross the entire thing in minutes. I had friends there, who almost certainly are homeless right this second!
Well, I won't drag the "emotional" part out. You get the picture, and it sucks no matter what angle you see it from. Here is my perspective on flooding:
People are funny creatures. We have access to amazing technology, we can send pictures across the world in milliseconds, speak any language with the miracle of Google Translate, and access the sum total of human knowledge from a device that fits in your pocket, yet most of us use that technology to take pictures of our food, or make duck faces in a mirror. If I were Nikolas Tesla, who invented AC electricity, I would be clawing my way back from the grave to rampage mankind!
So, people have all this knowledge available, and yet we fail to use it. We fail to remember that the Bow River flooded in 1902, 1929, 2005 and minor flooding in many other years besides. We build houses, made from sawdust and glue, with some tarpaper on the outside, right next to a river that has flooded more than 3 times in the last CENTURY, and just flooded again! Not to kick poor High River when she's down, but they JUST had a massive flood that caused major damage, perhaps 4 years ago. They called that one a "100 year flood", as if God had some kind of sand timer, and every 100 years he floods the river, and flips it over. That kind of arrogance means that we place buildings so close to the river, that people can walk out their back door and stand on the bank. Even if these flood occurred exactly 100 years apart, you are practically guaranteeing that your house will be flooded!
Insurance companies understand this much better than the rest of us. The very reason that flood insurance is so expensive, is that flooding is virtually GUARANTEED to happen. The only people who would buy the insurance, are the very same ones who build their house right next to water that has flooded in the past, and is guaranteed to flood again. I wouldn't sell insurance for that!
There are two kinds of flooding. First, it rains, and rains, and rains. The water simply cannot drain off quickly enough, and it starts stacking up, starting with the lowest level, ie, your basement. The watershed has a natural limit to its drainage, and this exceeds that. The flooding occurs in all low lying areas, but everyone gets a little taste of it, either in your basement, blocked storm drains, or leaky roofs. The biggest danger is in cities with lots of collection area, and lots of hills. The storm water starts barrelling through, and ends up blasting out manhole covers, flooding underpasses, or causing mudslides.
Then, you have flooding caused by someone else's rain. In Alberta, it only rained 36 mm in Calgary, but more than 140 mm in the mountains, which are the highest point. The water flows through the watershed in a "surge" and reaches the lowest level, ie, the basement of my office in downtown Calgary (true story). By that time, it has collected so much extra glop, that it resembles a mudslide, and leaves a 4 inch layer of silt when it leaves!
In "primitive" times, people did their farming, and planting on these flood plains. When the rivers flooded, the silt brought all kinds of minerals and nutrients, building fertility. It's no secret that flood plains are the most fertile land in the world. The main difference today, is that we now build houses on those same floodplains. I would like to suggest that this might be foolish, when combined with the following other facts: we have all kinds of technology to prevent flood water from entering our homes, and we aren't using ANY of it! The Netherlands was actually built on reclaimed seabed. Something like 40% of the land is below sea level, and is held back by dikes. Vancouver has built a kind of "seawall" around some of it's more vulnerable areas to protect from flood waters. We are capable of constructing dams that can hold massive amounts of water and last for a century. We can divert rivers, stop them up, or widen them. But, we didn't, and we paid the price! $100,000,000 in damage so far, and almost certainly many, many times that. A permanent flood wall may have cost $10,000,000, and would have been worth every penny.
Even temporary solutions seemed to have been ignored:
Many companies are selling a long rubber tube that can be filled with water, and braced in place to nearly block all flood waters. Other products include lightweight sandbags that absorb 20 times their weight in water, and can be stacked in minutes by one person. Placed around vulnerable doors and windows, $200 worth of these "sandbags" can prevent water from infiltrating into a basement, and could save the homeowner untold thousands.
I should probably quit while I'm ahead...after all, I deliberately left personal belongings inside my office KNOWING that it was at risk of flooding. It was only a couple small items, shoes etc, but I could have easily moved them. I simply didn't believe that the river could possibly get that high.
I have learned my lesson, Creator. I will never be so arrogant again. I hope that none of us will.
POSTSCRIPT
I would like to send some virtual High Fives to some heroes who showed real love to their neighbors, even putting their own lives in danger:
Cochrane Fire Dept - Not sure how you guys can even walk with those balls of steel, but you literally saved people lives, at the huge risk of your own! Wading into deep moving water is usually pretty inadvisable, but with no thought to your own lives, you saved many more.
High River RCMP/Sheriffs - 48 hours of hell, and it's still going. Good work, again, you literally saved lives, and you've watched your own homes disintegrate as well...
Calgary Civilians - Those people who the first thing they asked me, is "Where can I volunteer to help?" Mr Pond, Mr Hallett, your selfless attitudes are commendable.
Regular people with Couches - And, who offered those couches to the people displaced, no matter where they were from, and who they were!
Mayor Nenshi, City of Calgary - I got the distinct impression that you really cared about your city, and you kept everyone informed. That kind of devotion surely cost you something that you didn't have to give, and sets you apart from other politicians.
Calgary Fire/EMS/CPS/Transit - You did your job, and you did it well, even when your own homes were certainly at risk. Like me, I'm sure most of you wish you could have done more, but none of us knew that it would get THAT BAD!!!
I know that so many have done so much, and sorry that I didn't mention you, but you know who you are!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Easy Soapmaking For Lazy People Who Don't Like to Stir
Easy Soapmaking For Lazy People Who Don't Like to Stir
AKA "Hot Process Oven Process"
Many soap recipes, in fact, most of them, tell you to cook the soap on your stove, which requires some stirring, more stirring, stirring again, and just when you think you're done, keep stirring bud! The whole point of stirring is to speed the chemical reactions, and make sure that it completes evenly. It also ensures that the heat is evenly transferred to all of the mixture, and if you aren't using a double boiler, ensures that you don't burn or scorch your soap!
Some people like the stirring, because it really feels like you're "making" something. I don't. I have things to do, and when I first made soap with olive oil, it took 45 minutes to bring the mixture to "trace", which is the point at which the chemical reaction begins. It splashed everywhere, and I was basically glued to the stove, mixing with a stick blender.
Not any more! Someone clever, and perhaps a little lazy, has discovered that soap can be just as easily cooked in the OVEN, as it can on the stove top! Plus, it requires pretty much zero stirring, only once every half hour or so to get things going. Here's how it works.
Hot Process Oven Process Soap Making
1. Set your oven to 175 F. Most recipes will cook just fine at this temp, and it will (mostly) prevent soap from boiling over. The first time I tried this, I set the stove at 225, but this is too high, and my soap did boil over. Nice mess, and it was not much fun to clean up!
2. Mix your oils, melt any solid oils, and stir in your lye mixture. This will work for liquid (Potassium Hydroxide) or bar soap (Sodium Hydroxide). Give it a minute of initial stir, just to get things going.
3. Put your non-aluminum, oven safe container into the oven with a lid on top, and leave it for 1/2 hr.
4. After the first half hour, a minute of blending with a stick blender will bring an immediate trace, check on the pot every 1/2 after that for about 3 hours. The last hour, I usually let it sit without too much stirring. It will get to a very thick, mostly translucent stage that seems like vaseline. This is pretty much the end, but you can test it by dissolving a bit in water to see if all the fatty acids are reacted away. The water will be pretty clear if the reaction is complete.
5. Moving quickly, spoon the mixture into your mold, and let it cool. Once cooled at bit, it can be unmolded, and cut into bars. It will be easier to unmold than cold process soap, and is ready to use immediately!
At some point in the future, I will be switching to a number of large slow cookers, which will accomplish about the same as an oven, but it will be easier to check on and stir.
AKA "Hot Process Oven Process"
Many soap recipes, in fact, most of them, tell you to cook the soap on your stove, which requires some stirring, more stirring, stirring again, and just when you think you're done, keep stirring bud! The whole point of stirring is to speed the chemical reactions, and make sure that it completes evenly. It also ensures that the heat is evenly transferred to all of the mixture, and if you aren't using a double boiler, ensures that you don't burn or scorch your soap!
Some people like the stirring, because it really feels like you're "making" something. I don't. I have things to do, and when I first made soap with olive oil, it took 45 minutes to bring the mixture to "trace", which is the point at which the chemical reaction begins. It splashed everywhere, and I was basically glued to the stove, mixing with a stick blender.
Not any more! Someone clever, and perhaps a little lazy, has discovered that soap can be just as easily cooked in the OVEN, as it can on the stove top! Plus, it requires pretty much zero stirring, only once every half hour or so to get things going. Here's how it works.
Hot Process Oven Process Soap Making
1. Set your oven to 175 F. Most recipes will cook just fine at this temp, and it will (mostly) prevent soap from boiling over. The first time I tried this, I set the stove at 225, but this is too high, and my soap did boil over. Nice mess, and it was not much fun to clean up!
2. Mix your oils, melt any solid oils, and stir in your lye mixture. This will work for liquid (Potassium Hydroxide) or bar soap (Sodium Hydroxide). Give it a minute of initial stir, just to get things going.
3. Put your non-aluminum, oven safe container into the oven with a lid on top, and leave it for 1/2 hr.
4. After the first half hour, a minute of blending with a stick blender will bring an immediate trace, check on the pot every 1/2 after that for about 3 hours. The last hour, I usually let it sit without too much stirring. It will get to a very thick, mostly translucent stage that seems like vaseline. This is pretty much the end, but you can test it by dissolving a bit in water to see if all the fatty acids are reacted away. The water will be pretty clear if the reaction is complete.
5. Moving quickly, spoon the mixture into your mold, and let it cool. Once cooled at bit, it can be unmolded, and cut into bars. It will be easier to unmold than cold process soap, and is ready to use immediately!
At some point in the future, I will be switching to a number of large slow cookers, which will accomplish about the same as an oven, but it will be easier to check on and stir.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Soap & Garden
I'm right now staring at what I hope is a thunderstorm, creeping up the horizon. I just finished planting a bunch of seeds in the garden, and a little rain would not be unwelcome!
GARDEN
We bought a grapevine! I don't know what the grapes taste like, I don't drink wine (or alcohol period), but it seems like something that would grow pretty well unattended. We also have two rhubarb plants that are gaining size pretty nicely. They have been there for two years now, and I think I might plant more of them in time. I really like rhubarb, and it grows really well, even out here on the prairies.
I tried an experiment with a 4 inch drainpipe, cutting holes in it, filling it with potting soil, and planting some strawberries in it. At first, they seemed to wither and die, but they quickly recovered, and almost all of them are still alive! It will still be important to water the tube regularly, but I don't think it will dry out as quickly as I imagined at first. This might turn out to be a viable way to plant small, shallow rooted plants in a "vertical" manner.
SOAP
Ye Olde Fashioned Liquid Soap...is now for sale on Ebay! By the time you read this, I will have bottled the first of the soap, printed the labels, and posted a nice photo. For the first month, I am selling at a huge discount! Most soap of this type would sell for $7.99 to $9.99 for a small 8-12 oz bottle, but I am going as low as $4.99 for the 250 ml, and $6.99 for the 500 ml bottle. This soap is perfect for handwashing, shampoo, or body wash, and contains only olive oil, coconut oil, and canola oil, which when combined with Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), water, and heat, makes soap! This is the way that soap has been made for 5,000 years, and it makes a superior, healthier soap.
Thanks for reading, and please think about trying my soap, I will ship anywhere in North America, plus I will totally combine shipping!
GARDEN
We bought a grapevine! I don't know what the grapes taste like, I don't drink wine (or alcohol period), but it seems like something that would grow pretty well unattended. We also have two rhubarb plants that are gaining size pretty nicely. They have been there for two years now, and I think I might plant more of them in time. I really like rhubarb, and it grows really well, even out here on the prairies.
I tried an experiment with a 4 inch drainpipe, cutting holes in it, filling it with potting soil, and planting some strawberries in it. At first, they seemed to wither and die, but they quickly recovered, and almost all of them are still alive! It will still be important to water the tube regularly, but I don't think it will dry out as quickly as I imagined at first. This might turn out to be a viable way to plant small, shallow rooted plants in a "vertical" manner.
SOAP
Ye Olde Fashioned Liquid Soap...is now for sale on Ebay! By the time you read this, I will have bottled the first of the soap, printed the labels, and posted a nice photo. For the first month, I am selling at a huge discount! Most soap of this type would sell for $7.99 to $9.99 for a small 8-12 oz bottle, but I am going as low as $4.99 for the 250 ml, and $6.99 for the 500 ml bottle. This soap is perfect for handwashing, shampoo, or body wash, and contains only olive oil, coconut oil, and canola oil, which when combined with Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), water, and heat, makes soap! This is the way that soap has been made for 5,000 years, and it makes a superior, healthier soap.
Thanks for reading, and please think about trying my soap, I will ship anywhere in North America, plus I will totally combine shipping!
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Soapmaking: In the Beginning
Not a very long time ago, in a local galaxy (or maybe a nebula), there lived a young man with his family. He had no Jedi powers, unless you consider an exceptionally dark farmer's tan to be a useful ability. He wanted nothing more than to live free on the land, producing things for his family, and things to sell.
Well, here we are in a new spring year, it's finally nice weather, and Disney is the new owner of the Star Wars franchise. What new things can we expect for the year? Well, I've finally gotten on the ball with gardening, a part time job is in the works, and we're starting a non-farm business.
We're making soap! Well, that's where we're starting, I have designs on making a number of useful household products, other than soap, or things that have soap as a base, like shaving soap and laundry soap. Here's the plan:
1. Experiment! Soapmaking is an excellent "cottage industry", unlike say, steel smelting, and building airplanes. It's basically cooking, but with the added element of danger from the lye used to turn oil into soap! So far, I've tried bar soap, and liquid soap, and they both turned out well. The bar soap is still in the little plastic molds, and needs another couple weeks to cure, but the liquid soap is nearly ready to go. My first few tries at bar soap were hilariously disastrous, and the pot boiled over TWICE in one day, hahaha. Turns out I used the wrong type of olive oil, which reacted waaaaaaaay too quickly. Easy fix, and the next few tries worked very well indeed!
2. Start simple: Let me be honest. I am not the first person to try selling soap from home. It may have been done before, and many people are making a small, but honest living selling soap, makeup, deodorant, lip balm, and fancy looking soaps that look good enough to eat. Most of these are women, and their products are exceptional in quality! All kinds and flavours of soap, scented with everything from lavender to coffee. They seem to sell what they make, or else they wouldn't make it.
I don't want to compete with these ladies of super-soap. I think the market might be pretty crowded for "fancy" soap, although I think there is room for someone to make custom printing on soap bars as a gift item. When is the last time you bought a bar of soap with dried herbs in it? Or a salt scrub? Or a bar scented with lavender? I have never purchased any of these things. I have purchased bars of soap to wash my hands with, and I really didn't care what it smelled like, except that it didn't smell "bad". I also buy a bottle of liquid dish soap about every two weeks, because we wash our dishes by hand. The average Joe (or Jane) may occasionally buy a fancy soap as a gift, but what they NEED is regular soap for every day use. Some of them might be interested in soap that is free from chemicals, and that's where Herbal Haven comes in! (Herbal Haven is the name of our company)
3. Ebay, Internet sales: There is a few sellers of liquid soap on Ebay, but most of them seem to be in the US, and I suspect that they find shipping to Canada to be irritating. I plan to target Canadian buyers with smaller sized bottles of liquid soap. My wife is working on a different line of products, womens makeup, perfumes, lip balm etc.
4. Getting bigger: If you've ever made soap by hand, you can appreciate that it requires a lot of patience, something I was not given an abundance of at birth. Fortunately, there are shortcuts, although it requires some money to buy these time saving devices, it will drastically cut down on the time spent endlessly stirring a batch of soap.
That's about it, I will have some pictures of what we've done so far, and when it comes time to sell, I will link to the Ebay page where you can buy all natural liquid soap!
Well, here we are in a new spring year, it's finally nice weather, and Disney is the new owner of the Star Wars franchise. What new things can we expect for the year? Well, I've finally gotten on the ball with gardening, a part time job is in the works, and we're starting a non-farm business.
We're making soap! Well, that's where we're starting, I have designs on making a number of useful household products, other than soap, or things that have soap as a base, like shaving soap and laundry soap. Here's the plan:
1. Experiment! Soapmaking is an excellent "cottage industry", unlike say, steel smelting, and building airplanes. It's basically cooking, but with the added element of danger from the lye used to turn oil into soap! So far, I've tried bar soap, and liquid soap, and they both turned out well. The bar soap is still in the little plastic molds, and needs another couple weeks to cure, but the liquid soap is nearly ready to go. My first few tries at bar soap were hilariously disastrous, and the pot boiled over TWICE in one day, hahaha. Turns out I used the wrong type of olive oil, which reacted waaaaaaaay too quickly. Easy fix, and the next few tries worked very well indeed!
2. Start simple: Let me be honest. I am not the first person to try selling soap from home. It may have been done before, and many people are making a small, but honest living selling soap, makeup, deodorant, lip balm, and fancy looking soaps that look good enough to eat. Most of these are women, and their products are exceptional in quality! All kinds and flavours of soap, scented with everything from lavender to coffee. They seem to sell what they make, or else they wouldn't make it.
I don't want to compete with these ladies of super-soap. I think the market might be pretty crowded for "fancy" soap, although I think there is room for someone to make custom printing on soap bars as a gift item. When is the last time you bought a bar of soap with dried herbs in it? Or a salt scrub? Or a bar scented with lavender? I have never purchased any of these things. I have purchased bars of soap to wash my hands with, and I really didn't care what it smelled like, except that it didn't smell "bad". I also buy a bottle of liquid dish soap about every two weeks, because we wash our dishes by hand. The average Joe (or Jane) may occasionally buy a fancy soap as a gift, but what they NEED is regular soap for every day use. Some of them might be interested in soap that is free from chemicals, and that's where Herbal Haven comes in! (Herbal Haven is the name of our company)
3. Ebay, Internet sales: There is a few sellers of liquid soap on Ebay, but most of them seem to be in the US, and I suspect that they find shipping to Canada to be irritating. I plan to target Canadian buyers with smaller sized bottles of liquid soap. My wife is working on a different line of products, womens makeup, perfumes, lip balm etc.
4. Getting bigger: If you've ever made soap by hand, you can appreciate that it requires a lot of patience, something I was not given an abundance of at birth. Fortunately, there are shortcuts, although it requires some money to buy these time saving devices, it will drastically cut down on the time spent endlessly stirring a batch of soap.
That's about it, I will have some pictures of what we've done so far, and when it comes time to sell, I will link to the Ebay page where you can buy all natural liquid soap!
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