That Pagan Holiday Feeling... again...

I saw a car sticker today that said: "Keep Christ in Christmas"
This is a Roman Catholic initiative. They sell these stickers by the box load.
I go to their website and see "He is the reason for the season"

Then I thought - this is wrong.
The Roman Catholic church are the reason for the season as they were the first ones to come up with it.
There is no record of the disciples or the early church fathers observing such a thing.

So here is my new sticker design:

 

Here is a tongue in cheek conversation:

Christian: I am fed up with Christmas. It seems like the most unholy time of year. Suicide rates go up and the last thing people have on their mind is Christ.

Man: Yep, that is how they like it.

Christian: Why can't we celebrate Christmas with no drinking, no materialism, and no distracting TV. No pagan tree and decorations, no fantasy idol characters like Santa and remove the catholic mass from the name. 

Man: Whoa now, that would only leave Christ!

Christian: Yes - give him the glory. 

Man: The Christian's would never go for that!

While the wife is away... Part 10

No central heating on for weeks!  Yeah! - British style!

That is correct - as cold as it has been I have not used central heating for about two weeks.
I have used a electric oil-filled radiator to keep my knees warm while in study.
If I get really cold - then I exercise to keep warm. No problem.

I will also use this hot water bottle tonight for a bit of warmth...

While the wife is away... Part 9

I prepared the 16ft beam. Holes drilled. Groves cut. Eye bolts added. 

Grading the earth flat. I had planks of wood and a spirit level. It was a nightmare.

This took almost a whole day of hard work:

Thankfully David T came around and helped get it up. 

 Much work still to be done - but at least it looks good right now. Need to anchor the posts. Finish the wood edging. Get loads of mulch to fill in the 'pit'.

While the wife is away... Part 8

Inventing stuff:

The iBlock:

This is such a cool invention. It holds my iPhone while I watch Netflix eating breakfast, washing up, ironing and so on. With the right materials I may be able to get it to stick to the dashboard and use it as a GPS Sat Navigation holder (on the iPhone). 

The black rubber thing is lose and can be used to prop up the iPhone at different angles. 

It can accommodate landscape or portrait viewing. 

The shower foot washing holding plate:

For a while we have had this foot washing contraption - but the thing is pretty useless as it has suckers and most showers and baths have an anti-slip texture on the floor - which will not allow the suckers to work. 

Idea: get a smooth piece of plexiglass - get the foot cleaner to suck to it and put that in the shower floor. I can then use one foot to hold the plexiglass and one can be washed. 

While the wife is away... Part 7

Thanksgiving today. I cooked a chicken and some sweet potatoes with mixed veg. 

I have no idea why Americans mash the sweet potatoes and add sugar and make a desert out of sweet potato and try and serve it with the main meal. It really should be served as a desert. Instead of pumkin pie - it should be sweet potato pie. Anyway...

Instead I added salt and rosemary (bitter) to off-set the sweetness of the sweet potato. I simply roasted them in the skins (for fibre) and they were nice!

I took the chicken out of the pan and added water and stock. I left the roasted onions in the pan. I then boiled the pan on the stove for a while. I added a little corn starch. The gravy was awesome!

There was almost no effort put into this meal - and it turned out great. I am very thankful!

While the wife is away... Part 6

Hauling wood!

This is a 16ft long 4x6 bit of wood. It's funny how they say 4" by 6" when in reality it is 3.5" by 5.5"

You would have thought a 2 by 4 would be 2 inches by 4 inches - but you are wrong. So wrong. 

It's 3.5 by 1.5 inches. 

So basically you cannot believe the hype or any measurements they give you. 

I managed to fit several 10Ft long 4x4 pieces of wood in the back of the Civic. So I was thinking that a 16ft would protrude by a little - maybe 6ft.  It was more like 7ft and a bit. 

No problem though - I went up a few slopes and I did not manage to scrape the ground. 

I passed a cop. Not a problem. 

Another cop passed me - but he went for someone else. 

WIth that flag on the back it was totally legal - no probs.  

While the wife is away... Part 5

I started watching Pilgrims Progress - Journey to Heaven (2008 - DRC Films)

I ended up tying noose knots and watching a video about a swedish fire torch

One of the comments on the video was:
"Start point - videos of Mazda RX-8 ===>> End: Video how to create Swedish Fire Torch. I have again lost myslef on YouTube."

Sport Cars to survival skills... mmm easily done I suppose...

The amount of educational videos on You Tube is fantastic. Not sure what I would do without it.

Anyway - in pilgrims progress they showed a swing set (like the one I am building) and a noose. It then got me thinking about how I was going to tie a tire to a beam. 

Knots I learned about today:

Bowline

Bowline-on-a-bight

Running bowline

Slip knot 

Hangman's noose

Reef knot

Sheet bend

Clove hitch

Backhand hitch

Useful video on 6 knots you should know: (skip the bio - just get to the knots)

I need something like this for my Squirrels: