RetroRevolution

A couple of weeks ago I started walking to get in better shape physically, restore some lost energy to help me accomplish tasks here around the homestead, and get to better know the area around our house.  It really made me start to think about the need to walk in a scenario where foot travel was the only available means of transportation.

My walking route is about 2 miles long and I walk it in about 40 minutes.  That is a 3 mph pace.  Which for me is a brisk pace, but is the average walking speed for people.  As I walk this pace should naturally increase.  I’ve always know that walking is much slower than driving.  I’ve just never thought about it.  We live well outside town.  If we need to run to town for a gallon of milk, we hop in the car drive a few miles and are back with a gallon of milk in less than 15 minutes.  When I started walking, it was a 20 minute trip just to the end of our small secondary road, about 3/4 of a mile.  If we didn’t have access to a car it would take us about two hours each way to get to the grocery store for some milk if we had to walk it.

Consider your aptitude at walking a long distance.  When was the last time you did it?  It isn’t as easy as it was when you were 12 and walked everywhere yo went with your friends.  It’s a skill and you need to practice it to know you can do it when you have to.

Interested in getting started?  Consider the following walking plan:

• Walk for 15 minutes for three consecutive days.
• Take a day off.
• Walk 15 minutes for two consecutive days.
• Take a day off.
• Walk 20 minutes for three consecutive days.
• Take a day off.
• Walk 25 minutes for two consecutive days.
• Take a day off.
• Walk 25 minutes for three consecutive days.
• Take a day off.
• Walk 25 minutes for four consecutive days.
• Take a day off.
• Walk 30 minutes for four consecutive days.
• Take a day off.

You are now well on your way to a regular walking program.  This program will not prepare you for a 20 mile hike in the mountains with a 100 lb. pack on your back, but it will let you walk to the nearest gas station when you radiator hose blows in the middle of nowhere.  If you keep walking 4 days a week without more than two days break in between walks you will begin to feel fitter and fitter and are well on your way to a healthier lifestyle.  Your blood pressure and weight should drop off and you should begin to sleep much better.

After a few months at this program you should be in a better position to start considering advanced walking skills.  But we will save that discussion for a later day.  In the mean time start walking!

No matter how you slice it, sharpening is the process of removing metal.  When it comes time to sharpen one of your tools you need equipment that will remove metal.  While there are many items that you can use to remove metal, most people will start with a stone.  Stones are one of the most basic of all sharpening equipment.  A common name for them is whetstone.  This is often confusing to the new comer because they believe the whet refers to placing water or oil on the stone while sharpening.  In reality it means to sharpen a blade.

Ceramic Whetstones

There are several properties describing a stone.  Grit is one of the first discussed.  Grit referrs to the size of the particles than make up the stone.  Typical grit numbers range from about 10 on the low end up to about 800 on the high end.  The lower the grit, the coarser the surface of the stone and rougher the surface it produces.  However a coarse grit stone will cut the metal fast and remove a large amount of metal in a short amount of time.  A higher grit number indicates a smoother surface on the stone and a polished surface produced.  These fine grit stones remove little metal and polish the edge in question.

In commercial stones, the hardness of the stone refers to its grade.  This is a description of the strength of the bond between the grains.  A harder stone will last longer, retain its shape better, and produce a better edge than an stone of equal grit and size.  Unfortunately harder stones are more expensive and are more brittle and likely to break under stress or impact.

Stones come in many shapes and sizes.  There are small ones that fit on the outside of a knife sheath.  And there are large wheel shaped ones operated from grinders that are used in re-beveling blades.  Benchstones are rectangular with larger parallel surfaces.  They are designed to be held in place on a bench for use.  Handstones are designed to be used when held in one hand, but their convenience is offset by the increased difficulty of maintaining a good sharpening angle.  Sticks a long slender stones that often have a handle attached for ease of sharpening.  These sharpening sticks come in a variety of cross sectional shapes like round, square, and triangular.

Diamond Whetstone

There are now diamond honing stones on the market that are made by mixing ground diamond powder with a stone material. The resulting sharpening surface can hone even the hardest of metals.  Natural stones are typically novaculite, sedimentary stones mined from quarries in the State of Arkansas, which are then cut and shaped into whetstones. Traditionalists considered these stones to be some of the highest quality stones  available, they are best used to hone a fine edge on a blade after it has been pre-worked with another type of stone or file.  In cheaper natural sones, consistency of the grit is a problem.  Better manufacturers sift through the raw rock to find different grades of grittiness.

Natural Whetstone

The most common stones in the market place today are ceramic stones that are produced by baking the gritty particles with the ceramics. Because they are manufactured, ceramic stones tend to have greater accuracy in the grit rating. Furthermore their use metal particles such as alumina or steel, results in a longer lifetime than the naturally occurring stones.

Care of your stone is also important.  Above all read any literature that accompanied your stone.  In general there are two camps for the care of stones.  There is an oil camp and a water camp.  Basically coat the surface of the stone with the fluid of your choice and when the pores on the surface of the stone appear clogged or glazed, clean the stone.  If you use oil you will need to use a solvent, if you use water you will have to scrub more.  I prefer oil.

I wanted to wait until the celebrations, picnics, car shows and festivities of the 4^th of July were over to share this.  My hope is that each and every one of you reading this has a satchel full of wonderful memories from this weekend, but I pray that you remember the men, women, families and God that have made this possible throughout the ages.

This weekend some remarkable fun was had by thousands of people across this blessed nation.  Parties, parades, picnics and potlucks dotted the countryside as we gathered together to celebrate the formation of a great nation.  We gathered with old friends and new acquaintances.  The gathering together helped us to relax and hopefully provided some comfort to those lonely or feeling apart from community.  The shallow end of the pool is relaxing and comforting.  It’s a path to the deep end.  Sometimes we use it as a means to test the water and gradually acclimate ourselves until we are ready to take the plunge.

This very weekend some remarkable work was done in the backyards, schools, schools, townships and parishes.  It takes the individual to move the brick, but it takes the group to form the building.  I personally witnessed two great events that both reached out to the local community and drew members of their organization closer together.  I can’t help but be reminded of 56 revolutionary thinkers gathering and debating with open minds, a plan to make the world a better place.  Their gathering and embarking on this journey locked them together in their lives and in history.  When we gather together in service today, we too grow closer together and secure a place in history as we assist in the construction of a building for those in need, or raise funds for the education of our children.

There are also times when we linger in the shallow end that we find ourselves slipping off the ledge into the deep end, much as I did when I decided to share some thoughts on Liberty and Patriotism.

A year from now as you begin planning for your Holiday of fun, service, and fellowship remember these words, “For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them.” Set an example for your children and neighbor and come together in his name and let your actions show you as a follower.  Take a moment to remember those that came before you and risked everything so that you could gather in fun and fellowship: Soldiers and Sailors; Revolutionary thinkers like Martin Luther, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.; Writers like Thomas Paine and The Apostle Paul.  Liberty isn’t just an American tradition.  It’s a human one.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Spend some time in the deep end of a different pool next year.  Put down your beer and pick up a shovel.  Eat one less hot dog and serve a meal at a homeless shelter.  As you wait for the fireworks to start turn off the DVD player in the minivan and share the history of great people that risked it all for the liberty of their peers.  People like Rosa Parks, Tecumseh, or Mordechai Anielevich.  When you awake on the morning of the 4^th next year, well rested and ready to enjoy your day of vacation.  Take 5 minutes to gather the family and thank the One who gave their all for your eternal liberty.  This song and video might help you remember.

http://www.godtube.com/featured/video/4th-july-heroes-tribute/all

Over 200 years ago a group of men came together and formally recognized what was wrong with the country they were living in; put their thoughts to paper; and formalized action against an oppressive government.  This act of rebellion and what amounted to treason had begun over a year earlier.  The Royal Government had passed an act known as the Intolerable Acts.  Four of the five of these acts were in direct response to the Boston Tea Party.  One of the most egregious of these acts was The Massachusetts Government Act. The act took away the right of the people to elect who they wanted to their executive council and forbade town meetings without the express consent of the Governor.  Lord North explained to the British Parliament that the purpose of the act was “to take the executive power from the hands of the democratic part of government”.

There is a deliberate and methodical attack on everyone’s liberty in these united States today.  No one is attempting to quarter troops in your house, but they are attempting to prohibit your right to assemble.  In general people aren’t strung up in the stockades if they speak out against the government, but they are libeled and have their character and reputation assaulted as bigots and racists when they do.  People aren’t arrested for worshiping how they choose, but that very worship in public is admonished and disdained in defense of an illusionary right entitled Freedom from Religion, instead of the actual Freedom of Religion.

This continued erosion of your liberty happens every time you buy a can of food at the grocery store, sit in your car and stare at the air bag light as you wait for it to go out, and every hour that you toil away at work and you have 20-40 percent of your salary confiscated by the government as a means of securing your liberty.  You can revolt against this tyranny with simple acts of peaceful rebellion.

1. Grow some of your own food.  Every radish, carrot, tomato, or apple you grown on your own is one less opportunity for the government to tax you.  This simple step of independence scares world governments so much that bills are introduced regularly, federal regulations proposed, and additional bureaucratic burdens placed upon a simple and self-evident act like producing your own food.
2. Speak your mind.  Don’t succumb to the myth of confidentiality when you disagree with an organization or government.  Of course offer that organization the opportunity to correct the problem, but should they refuse after your reasonable case is pleaded, rally the like minded and represent the case again as a group of 10.  When that fails, come back again with a group of 100 individuals ready and willing to peacefully argue their point.
3. Find ways to become less dependent upon the government.  All governments seek to grow the dependency of the governed.  It is this dependency that they exploit to steal you liberty.  They extort additional funds from you with threats of cutting programs like police and fire protection.  They recognize that everyone wants those.  They never threaten to cut programs like building inspectors or zoning boards.  The governments realize the response would be a unanimous cheer of Please Do!

Your Right of Revolution is a well understood and documented right.  Some claim it is even a duty.  This isn’t a revolution with guns and bombs, but a revolution of skills and ideas.  Plant those seeds of independance today in your family, friends, and neighbors.  Show them that the Right of Revolution begins as an individual right and grows into a collective juggernaut.  Fight the peaceful battle and preserve liberty for your children and their children.  Lest we all forget the words of John F. Kennedy, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

Chicken breasts were on sale this past week and we enjoy the convenience of canned chicken.  When I started canning meats a few years ago, I canned all the chicken the same way; in a bath of boiling water with a bit of salt added.  I then gradually started adding a few things until I ended up with two types of chicken in the pantry.  The first was my old mainstay of plain chicken, and the second was basically chicken noodle soup without any vegetables or noodles.  We continued canning chicken this way for a long while, but then one day it occurred to me that I could add other things to the jar before I started canning.  The first thing I tried was to add some barbecue sauce.  It worked great and we could have pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches without any prep time.  The next thing I tried was adding taco seasoning to the chicken.  Now we could have chicken tacos and burritos with minimal preparation.  Pretty soon I had about 8 different varieties of chicken canned in the pantry for quick easy meals.

This past week I tried a new recipe.  Chicken Scampi.  Scampi traditionally means shrimp in Italian-American cuisine. Although the actual word for shrimp in Italian is gambero or gamberetto, plural gamberi or gamberetti. Scampi, by itself, is also the name of a preparation of shrimp grilled in garlic butter and white wine, usually served over pasta or rice. However the word scampi has evolved as a style of preparation rather than a dish or lone ingredient, with that preparation being called shrimp scampi.  From this simple idea chicken scampi was born.

I got the recipe itself from the Creative Canning blog.  Cyn has some great recipes and isn’t afraid to share her successes and failures through her blog.  The recipe as Cyn posted it can be found here.  Ever the tinkerer I felt the need to modify it a bit for my family’s taste.

Chicken Scampi

• 8 lbs. of chicken breast, boneless and skinned, cubed in 1″ chunks
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 4 cups Chablis wine

Brown the chicken and garlic in the butter and then add the wine.  Simmer for a few minutes.  Pack the chicken into 6 or 7 pint jars.  Split the juice between the jars.  To each jar add the following:

• 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/8 tsp oregano
• 1/8 tsp basil
• a pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp of coarse black pepper

Cover with boiling water and process the pints for 75 minutes.

You can serve the chicken as it is over pasta or rice with some Mediterranean vegetables, or you can mix the can water with some heavy cream and a thickener like flour and serve over pasta for a dish similar to Alfredo.