Hit and Miss Engine---Maybe Sustainable

I am by definition a "motor head" in that I like motors and contraptions. Problem is , most of them, the ones I like, are very old, say 75 years or better. There is an interesting thing about old motors. They are not gizmo-endowed screamers made to fall apart after short use, they were developed to last a genuinely long time, maybe generations. That is what gets the attention of my sustainable mind. I know, your saying my mind is not sustainable. it is a figure of speech.



What I have is a 1922 "M" McCormick Deering, 3HP stationary engine (below, the one above is an Ellis and very fancy). Mine weighs in at about 600 ungodly pounds and is made of cast iron and a few classy brass fittings. It was manufactured to do farm work or jobs that today might have an electric motor on them. Most were mounted on a set of four steel wheels and could be hauled from job to job around the farm or home by a buxom house wife. The engines were crude---rather like me. However, there are many stories out there in the dusty hinterland of folks who bought one in say 1910, and then used it daily until after the big war, WWII. About the only thing that could go wrong were bearings wearing out, all of which could be changed in a hour or two.


They were used to grind corn, generate electricity, lift hay to the barn, pump water and if the firing was steady, as the rhythm section of a string band (my use). No motorcycles or lawn mowers (unless one wanted crushed parts), but they could saw wood and generally make life easier---if a buzz saw is deemed easier. Safe? Well!

The fuel could vary quite a bit from gasoline to diesel, or kerosene like mine, maybe a mixture of home-brewed ethanol and restaurant cooking oil. Interesting hey? Folks restore these things even if they have been laying in a swamp sheltering frogs and leaches for 50 years and they still work like new.

So the more I mess with these things, the more it makes me wonder if they might not come back into play when task become more local and simple. There is one called a Lister, that is still made for the 3rd world market that can run all day on a gallon diesel. Worth a thought, plus I love playing with the simple toys. Oh, as of this moment, mine has yet to actually run but we are poised. Some people make fun of me.

The Atlatl---a Sustainable Hunting Possibility

In our family, we have had a long standing discussion on the methods of early American's hunting techniques. It is well known that the Bow and Arrow combination has not been around all that long.This can be documented by the sudden appearance small projectile points found in Woodland sites around our state. While I forgot what I was told (not that unusual), it seems that maybe around 3000 years ago the bow showed up.

There has always been this talk of the atlatl, or throwing stick, that was used to launch a larger spear. I have maintained that these simple contraptions were not particularilfy useful because in my own hunting experience, deer particularly, have the ability to dodge arrows even from modern bows, that would be the ones with the fancy Farris Wheel like pulleys.

Ever hunter has had deer jump the sound of the string, thus making a get-away. Now the throwing stick, or atlatl, is a cumbersome thing and it just never registered with me as being affective for "hunting". Now admittedly, it might be a righteous "killing" instrument but most animals would simply dodge the spear because they would see the motion of the hunter as he launched the shaft, and it is not a small shaft.



So this weekend, I had a chance to test these atlatls---- and they are sustainable because they are made of all natural materials, including some shafts being made of Giant Ragweed stems, but as far as a hunting tool, I am still not there. If the land is heavily forested these things are unwieldy for sure. If the hunter is out in the open the movement of the hunter is so great even I could dodge the spear if I was dead drunk. I don't even need to be the Kung Fu guy I am.

So what is the deal? Why did they use them? For one thing, ancient hunters didn't have any rules, like, they could hunt at night, they could dress up as wolves, and they could cheat. Plus, these atlatls, as my brother pointed out can pack one big wallop. It looks to me like the native dudes trapped the caribou, mastodons and maybe buffalo in snares, vee traps, seathing muck-filled bogs and then once confined (and still very dangerous) they would stand back only a few yards and whale away with big spears. I still don't think they tripped around in some pastoral setting casually spearing some grazing animal.

To top it of, the experience of the weekend convinced me that the ancient ones were sustainable, and we moderns don't really have a clue. I don't think we get it. But then, we probably will have guns for some time to come---be that good or bad.

Revolution Watch---Home Sales

Living in a small town it is easy to keep track of certain activities like fish biting, basketball games, free pork dinners at the Ambrosia and what houses are for sale and how much they go for.

So starting in about '08 when the Long Emergency started, some call it the Great Disruption, or the Reset, but I like The Sustainable Revolution, my eye has been pealed on houses for sale, in part because we do own a rental as part of our retirement income, and another house might be a good idea when investments in CDs bring in a whopping .5% or may be .025%, or maybe it would be better to invest in hog belly futures. Personally, I like whiskey because there will always be a market.

The first house I noticed was the across the street which sold about 3 years ago in foreclosure. Ya, ya it had a bad kitchen that looked more like a small bowling alley with a sink, still it was an OK place and brought $43K. It had been purchased for $79 a couple of years earlier.

Then Harvey told me one in town had sold for $20K. I don't know where it was but I don't believe it was a chicken coop or a Unibomber shack. Another sold for $53K that I believe was purchased for $89K not long ago. Yikes, but it was a foreclosure.



As a result of all these deals, we decided to start looking around even though most of the houses in town were not selling because folks still think they have real value. Turns out the big problem is the banks won't pony up the drachmas, shekels or greenbacks. What happens is they get them appraised and they come in low and the bank say they will only hand out the funds to 80% of value.

Well, this house shown in the text is up for sale, and has been for some time. It is in the hands of our friends Fanny Mae as it was handed over to them when some poor sot found he was underwater--like he owed $75K or something, and the place was only worth $45K, oooops.

Fanny put it up for auction trying to recover some of their money, starting bid $21K. We looked and decided it was a dump, and it included a fancy hot tub that was nothing but a liability or maybe a nice vat for a meth lab. Today the bidding ended. NO BIDS! Not even the $21K

Now just what is the message? The message to Fanny? The message to Obama?

Revolution Watch---Conservation

“Conservation doesn’t capture the urgency of our existential moment in history. In fact, conservation is like a salve to assuage the conscience of well-meaning people who are stuck in Business As Usual (BAU). We can be conned into thinking that we are doing our part by swapping out incandescent light bulbs." Ron Swensen

Interesting comment. One of the things I am learning is that, while conservation is good, it is not a solution, when in fact, it is only being done to make sure we can continue doing what we are doing. In other words, right now we are looking for a car that will get close to 50 miles per gallon. In this country that leaves me about 2 cars, a VW diesel or a Prius. I would be doing this mostly to decrease my gas bill (Then again Jevon's paradox may kick in and I will just drive more). Our very nice Subaru gets a miserable 26 MPG even though it is a very nice set of wheels and I look very cool in it---some say similar to a chick magnate.

The other reason is to conserve oil which is a finite resource. It is nice to conserve and that makes me feel like I am doing my part---other than being cool. However, I am really out to maintain my business as usual (BAU) when, in fact, what needs to be done is forget having a car all together. I read that in Stockholm only 20% of the folks have cars. We actually have a couple of them and that includes the '69 VW bus we bought new. How cools is that?

I guess what it comes down to, is there is more to conservation. We have to begin to look at a new way of life many steps down from where we are. Oh, check some of the quotes to the right and notice one Jimmy Carter.

I may have to settle looking at our own Irises rather than going to the Botanical Garden in Milwaukee. So be it.

Growing Potatoes

I know this is not a new story but it is a good one. All of us have heard of planting potatoes in tires, that would be old tires. Put one tire on the ground, fill it with dirt and compost, plant a potato "seed" in the middle and then as it grows, continue adding tires and filling each new tires with more fertile dirt. A the end of the year disassemble the outfit and there will be a bunch of potatoes.

I never tried it because, while I may have some backwoods tendencies, the idea of stacking tires in my yard didn't have certain aesthetic appeal. Rather like having an old van for a chicken coop. It may work but look s a bit rough. Still might be good for a scaled down future. In any case, I never tried it, but as some folks know I have had some other suspect projects that may have been outside the mainstream view (Bruce would know).

Well, it comes to pass that this dude has an alternative. He simply partially fills a big plastic bag, of the garbage variety, with soil and then drops in a potato. As it grows he adds more dirt and mulch and maybe the neighbors cat (Dead). In time the bag is filled with soil and potatoes harvested in the fall. He stated he had hoped to garner maybe 20 Lbs per bag unit. He had like 20 of them, lived in a city, and seemed hell bent on providing some sort of subsistence from his efforts.

I was impressed because of the simplicity ( and got rid of cats) and mostly the anticipated output. That is a lot of carbos and if it can be pulled off, it would make on hell of a statement. Of course, one has to like potatoes, but they are a good famine food along with turnips and rutabagas.

So what one sees here is my test of the system. I anticipate using chicken wire to support the bag as it grows. As of this date two plants are growing. I am puffed up like a toad thinking I have an answer for world hunger. Lets see, if a person, say 2 persons were to eat 2 Lbs of spuds a day, every day for 365 days all I need is 730 Lbs of taters or 40 bags. Any extras could be used for vodka production. Has this been done before?

Foraging---Meat Aqusition in the Form of Fish

It is not hard to notice that in the grocery the price of fish, and in our case it is all frozen, is not cheap. To top it off, at least 50% of it is raised in pens. It is no secret that wild ones are being over-fished and many of the world's greatest fisheries have been badly depleted, the most obvious one being the cod fishery off the famous Grand Banks off New Foundland.

The fish of aqua-culture are not much different than pen raised beef and no doubt fed similar food. Now that I think of it, it is probably mostly the same. Corn? I haven't checked, but it wouldn't surprise me. Salmon are not being fed other fish, maybe corn meal in the shape of cute little cheezy fish, or ground up fish that was hauled out of the ocean in South America where there are no restrictions on over fishing.

The point is, store fish just doesn't look that good for a number of reason. Damn it is expensive, but then all food is going up---and wages dropping. As a result of my frustration, it was time to go fishing, and not fishing just for fun, even though it always is.



It was foraging for fish to go with the new greens of spring and the remaining taters of last fall. I will admit in the last couple of years I have not been able to secure the fish servings I had hoped for, due to supposed incompetent angling, or not working very hard, or letting most of them go. This year when our son was here, we took to the Wolf River and plied the trade of fisherman, mongers, harvesters, and freezer-fillers. While the river itself was void of fish as they seemed to have departed due to the sex induced run being over, the back water was still alive with the silver darlings, better know as White Bass. They came to us in great droves, big and silvery, 15 inches and 2 lbs.

There was great cheering from the widow's watch when we returned from the briny sea with 40 ton of the silver beauties. They are now frozen, all 40 and one Northern, enough for a year. We are thankful. Not everybody can do this, however, or the Wolf River would look like the Grand Banks.

Teaching Jobs----Forget Assault on Wages. Revolution Watch

Here is one I heard today. It is about The Change and the responses to The Change----better known as the Sustainable Revolution.

A young fellow that my brother knows is presently in college, I believe just completed his first year. He was setting up to be a elementary teacher and I believe he would be a good one. But it seems that in the last couple of years there has been a general attack on public employees, particularly teachers. It has been stated here in Wisconsin by our illustrious uneducated Governor that teachers are over paid and have too may high-end benefits.

In addition, tax revenues are down due to the recession that we are clearly still in, no matter what anybody says. Thus, schools are finding themselves very short of money to operate. As a result of both pressures, teachers have had to take cuts in benefits and in some cases wages. I will admit the the cuts have largely been to the standard year on year increases they have been getting, but not entirely. Never the less, teachers are under attack and it has financial implications.

I had the opportunity to see the school budget this year and with it a professional projection of anticipated revenues for the next five years (above). It is a declining curve that simply says that while the needs are there for education, the amount of funds available to run the system will decline.

In other words, it is a clear indication that the standard of living as pertaining to education will drop as will teacher wages.

As a result of this turmoil and pattern, the young man mentioned has chosen to look for another occupation thinking that in order for him to have the good life (business as usual or BAU) he will have to look elsewhere.

The problem is that due to the Sustainable Revolution everybody and every job will have to change to a lower level and BAU will not be available. In my view, he would be better off staying in education, an occupation that will always be needed and always be rewarding. Some how we have to learn how to except the idea that BAU is not in the future. It will be a tough haul because folks want it bad.