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Hot Hot Hot

Thu, 08/14/2008 - 17:15 — ox

Today is a scorcher. 104 degrees F in the shade at the moment.

I spent this past week working on the Isuzu diesel 4x4 pup that I have been using for the fish barrier survey. It limped home quite crippled last week with a broken frame, a broken rear spring mount and a few other oddities. Now before you get excited about me ripping the wilderness apart four wheeling around. It just aint so! But I will say that the road infrastructure in the national forest is a complete travesty. That is what did it. Lighting from the sun hits the windshield at a peculiar angle and blinds me of the nasty pot holes. The terrain is quite rugged. But I should have wheels again by Sunday and back on to the job.

A friend, and I don't call many that, is in dire straights at the moment. He was very instrumental in opening important doors for me. He also is a Viet Nam veteran (MP in Da Nang mid 60's). He has contracted lung cancer. This is the second agent orange related lung cancer I know of personally. Nasty stuff. He will be and is in my fervent prayers to YHVH. May he make his peace with Him and find rest.

I also spent a good portion of this week working on the electrical fence boundary and I have made very good progress there. I have until Oct 31 to finish it. Oh, Lord give me strength.

Peace to you all.

Comments

Mon, 08/18/2008 - 08:42 — premodern

Wow. I did not know it got so

Wow. I did not know it got so hot in that region of Oregon. We are having unseasonably cool weather here in Kentucky with low humidity.

I completely sympathize with your distaste for the infernal combustion engine and vehicle maintenance. I will share a few quotes from one of my favorite authors, Harlan Hubbard, who spent 7 years on a shantyboat on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and then homesteaded for 40 years in Kentucky on the Ohio River.

"I am advised to abandon these lovely hand tools, whose efficiency has evolved through many generations of users, and to do my garden work with a polychrome, shiny gadget which is without character, and to me very objectionable, being noisy, evil smelling, undependable. To think of choosing to have such a contraption between me and the soil, blotting out the song of birds and the river, and the sweet fragrance of spring. It would mean loss of independence, because gasoline has to be brought out from town for it, and if it needs repairs a specialist must be called in. The cost is considerable, too, and the acquiring of money is slavery, for me."

Regarding outboard motors, a feeling that I have experienced with chainsaws...

"...after a spell ineffective pulling on the starting cord I feel degraded by what seems a servile relation to it."

Though.... I do not want to complain too loudly. My Toyota pickup has served me well for over 20 years now. I think that the body will completely rust away, a process that has now taken hold, before it succumbs to a terminal mechanical condition.

I will keep your friend in my prayers.