Varia

Just a collection of various things found on my wanderings around the web...

Lawson Stone is blogging again. Here's a portion of today's thoughts:

I always think it’s a little sad when Christian institutions get so confused about their identity and mission that they actually start framing their curriculum and programs based on focus groups and market research, reverently termed “empirical data,” rather than first and primarily consulting their own deepest awareness of God’s call and working in their midst.

The ever prolific Jim West weighs in on the current state of Biblical Studies:

Biblical studies, as we know it, needs to end. But [Hector] Avalos is wrong concerning the reason because biblical studies isn’t at all primarily a religionist and apologetic enterprise in the academy, it is thoroughly “a-theistic’” (in the sense of the alpha privative prefix in Greek) in its approach and goals in the academy. Only a person who has never bothered to attend a meeting of the SBL or read the Journal of Biblical Literature or visited a Department of Religion (at, say, the University of North Carolina where Bart Ehrman teaches) could say without their tongue being firmly planted in their cheek that biblical studies is dominated by some sort of faith perspective. Indeed, I would submit for your consideration that in Colleges and Universities across the United States where Departments of Religion exist, that the preponderance of work is purely “a-theistic.”

The Book Bench bemoans the loss of personal selling in books, sometimes called "hand selling:"

There are also algorithms and Web sites intended to provide this sort of service [recommending books], but I find them unreliable and broad. The suggestions on Amazon, for instance, are limited—they tend to pound me over the head with new releases, analogizing books based primarily on sales rankings—and often odd (this morning, in a rise-and-shinish sort of mood, my Amazon site recommended that I might like pancake mix).

Jim Martin talks about a valuable gift:

For a few minutes, he gave us his undivided attention.

I never forgot that moment.

This is where I learned the value of giving another person one’s undivided attention.

Far too often, what people receive instead is our divided attention.

He goes on to talk about the draw of the cell phone, the text message, etc.

Joel and Renee have a nice little announcement:

...we are expecting Baby #5 at the end of January. That makes me about 7 weeks along. So come along Bean Sprout, go easy on your momma, and we look forward to meeting you around January 22!

So, we're going to be grandparents again!

On other notes:
Over the weekend, a raccoon got in the barn. I have chicken wire along the eaves to keep birds out, but coons go through that like a hot knife through warm butter. The neighbor gave us an assist and the coon is resting comfortably under a foot of earth now.

I haven't had any success in finding used parts for the Cub Cadet, so tonight we look at different lawn tractors. There were just too many things going wrong with the thing to be reliable.

On the cheese making front, we tried the brick cheese last night. It seems to have been a failure. It has the consistency of a Brie and tastes like it, too. The center of the block was more solid and tasted "brickish" but the rest didn't. Maybe I'll try again later, but at least I like Brie!

Also this weekend, I picked 45 pounds of strawberries. For the second or third year in a row, as I was finishing up picking, it started to sprinkle. By the time I had carried all 4 flats to the weighing station, it was pouring. As usual, I got drenched! But, I also ended up with 57 pints of strawberry jam. That should last for the year :)

Finally, last night as we were on our walk—a bit after midnight—we heard a plaintive meow a little over 1/4 mile from home. Looking around, we saw a tiny little kitten, probably 6-weeks old, along the side of the road. Being the sensitive sorts we are, we picked it up and brought it home. So, that makes at least 9 kittens 2 months old or less right now, 3 of them orphans. If the ratio holds to normal, by the end of the summer only about 1/3 of them will be alive. Right now we have 5 cats, none of them older than 13 months.

More on the Cub Cadet

Well, the belt didn't fit—at first. We put it on and it was too loose. My neighbor is more familiar with older Cubs, so at first he didn't know where to adjust the tension. But, we figured it out (some of you probably already knew and were wondering at my ignorance!); it is a pair of bolts on the front of the tractor that moves the whole deck forward and backward. So, I could theoretically use any belt between 59.5" and 61".

We got it running, and it was going along fine; it looked like I would get the lawn mowed before dark. But, suddenly there was a heartbreaking "CLUNK!" and the deck stopped. I quickly shut off the mower and looked underneath, expecting to see a broken belt. Nope, the belts were fine (sigh of relief). Oops! (groan!), the pulley assembly seems to have come apart. I took the deck off—I'm getting pretty good at that!—and saw that the pulley support shaft bolt had stripped out and the bearings were destroyed; there were little ball bearings all over the top of the deck.

My neighbor graciously allowed me to borrow his lawn tractor to finish the yard. When I returned it, we talked for about 45 minutes. So, your prayers were answered, just not in a way that I expected! Now, what to do about the mower...the replacement part is over $100! I don't think the tractor is worth the expense. Maybe I should just give it to my neighbor to play and tinker with, after all, he loves playing with them.

Lawn tractor woes

When we first bought the place we are at now, about 2.5 years ago, I didn't own a lawnmower. That could be a problem with 2 acres to mow :) But, a friend of ours loaned me an International Harvester Lo-boy tractor with a 60 inch belly mower. I used that most of the first summer until some other friends let us know about a 1991 Cub Cadet 1320 tractor for sale. I have been using it ever since.

There were a few problems with it, however. I found out after buying it that the generator didn't work. No problem! I'll just charge it every now and then...until I forgot. But, it worked. I finally had to buy a new battery this week, though. We did find out what the problem is: the magnets had broken free from the flywheel and stuck to the windings. No wonder it didn't work! I'm looking for a used flywheel now.

Late last summer, the two mower drive belts broke. The mower deck belt is no problem, once you find out the size of the belt! For the record, it is a 63" belt for a Cub Cadet 1320; that information wasn't easy to find. However, the primary drive (at least I think that is what they call it...) wasn't as easy to figure out. I tried a 60 inch belt—too big; the blades cut poorly and the belt flopped around. I tried a 59 inch belt—too small; the blades wouldn't disengage. I settled on the 59 inch belt, which worked until this week. I put another 59 inch belt on last night, thinking it would last another couple months. It didn't. It lasted 5 minutes. So, I did some digging on line. Turns out that Cub used an odd-sized belt, 59 1/2! That information isn't easy to find, either; it was stuck as a footnote on some website that I can't recall. Anyway, I ended up going to the Cub dealer in town today and paying a lot more than a standard belt would cost...I hope it works and lasts. We'll see...

On the bright side, this whole thing has been from God. We have been praying that we would be able to get to know our neighbors better. Guess what? They know lawn tractors—well! They have been extremely helpful. I've been over there a few times now; I feel like I'm finally getting to know them. And, they make a point of coming over to see how I'm doing. We'll see what God directs, but it is encouraging.

I try the "official" Cub belt tonight, and my neighbor specifically asked if he could help! I think that more than makes up for my minor inconveniences...please pray for God to be glorified—whatever happens!