Lost Ponds Outhouse
Needs some work.
Monday May 28, 2012 — Moose River Plains
Why it’s often better to throw away when you can repair 🔧
The awful truth is it is often a better option to throw things away when you can repair them. The problem is not what you might think – parts availability, access to manuals, access to skilled repairmen or even consumer culture. It’s actually the raw deal you get when you repair.
The truth is most things can be repaired and it’s life extended. Don’t believe me, look at the classic cars that still dominate Cuban streets. These old hulking beasts of cars get people around, they are serviceable and still operate. Then why did Americans throw theirs away when the Cubans kept their old automobiles chugging along? Mainly because it’s often a better choice for the individual to throw away then repair.
In many cases repair is cheaper than replacement. You can keep nearly any old appliance or automobile chugging along with a steady supply of parts, maintenance and repair. Enough bailing wire, mismatched parts from the scrap yard and online purchases of random needed parts can keep things humming along until the next thing breaks. But what do you give up when you keep your old device around and keep repairing it rather than sending it to the landfill?
Reliability is the biggest thing you give up with an old automobile, device or appliance. Repairing something fixes the immediate problem to get it back in use but it doesn’t make the rest of components less worn or less prone to failure. Replacing the tires on an old car doesn’t delay the time until the engine or transmission will fail and need replacement – often unexpectedly as you are heading down the road.
Reliability can be critical for many devices. Machine learning, research and even skilled mechanics can often spot problematic components and prioritize replacement and maintenance before failure. That can help with the reliability question but still you are dealing with an old, often tired and worn device that might fail in less predictable ways. Plus repairing all of the moderate risk of failure components may not be cost effective. So you end up with a less reliable, repaired old device compared to a new product.
Technology and science is always evolving. Repairing an old device means you are stuck with the outdated technology of yesteryear. For some devices that might not matter but for automobiles you are passing up on potentially lifesaving features, better fuel economy, less tailpipe pollution, etc. Electronic devices evolve quickly and without the more modern technologies you risk disconnecting from the world or being able to take advantage of the latest innovations.
The truth is there is a lot of pros and cons to repairing versus disposing. Obviously there are great environmental advantages to repair and longer use, although they may be offset by the use of toxic materials and less efficiency of older models. Likewise, repair in many cases can save money, even if you are taking a bit of a gamble putting money into an old device, that could fail catastrophically after an expensive repair. I’m not say throw away and always buy new but weight your options carefully.
8-14 Day Outlook – Sunday May 28
Continued above average weather expected through the beginning of June. I’m not seeing a lot of rain in the near future either.
Blue and Green
Memorial Day Weekend, Day Two 2023 🇺🇸 ⛺ 🌲
While it would have been nice to get out of town for the Memorial Day Weekend, I’m enjoying the light breeze camping in the back country of Cole Hill, eating good healthy and delicious meals cooked over the fire and enjoying the light of a fire, the moon and candles in the evening. I’m sure if I had gone to the Adirondacks I would have been dealing with a lot more black flies to say nothing of the long drive, traffic and probably not getting my dream campsite. Onwards to Juneteenth Weekend, lol.
Good morning! Happy Sunday. Sunny and 68 degrees at the Cole Hill State Forest. 🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 46 degrees. Warming up quickly after a somewhat cool night. I probably could have used another blanket for hammock camping last night.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 82 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around June 24th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 11am. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. That breeze is nice and it’s not expected to be real humid. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 80 degrees. The record high of 93 was set in 2016. I think that year I was camping in the Green Mountain National Forest and spending much of the day at the beach at Grout Pond. There was a dusting of snow in 1902.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 68.8° from the due south horizon (-2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:43 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (294°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (301°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 8:57 pm, which is 52 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southwest (199°) at an altitude of 51° from the horizon, 248,997 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:41 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 71 degrees. The dew point will be 51 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 30 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 51 degrees at 4am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 26th. Maximum dew point of 51 at 8pm. Northwest wind around 7 mph. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 51 degrees. The record low of 34 occurred back in 1956.
I took my bike to Downtube and they told me that they didn’t think it warranted a professional rebuild 🚲 due to numerous components needing replacement to get it up and running well. They were more than happy to show me the latest 2023 models which run about $800 after tax and destination charges, but suggested my bicycle might still be a fun project to rebuild myself even if there are some components – namely the gas suspension which is bad and will fail catastrophically at some point in the future. They pointed me in the direction of the Albany Bicycle Rescue which offers free classes on bicycle repair on Tuesday.
Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until the Gas Up Day 2 🚜 when the sun will be setting at 8:35 pm with dusk at 9:08 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 78 and 50 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 78 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1947.
New favorite camp snack / dessert 🥜
As I don’t eat processed foods and sugar anymore, the traditional cookies are out for camp snacks and dessert. But I found a good delicious alternative I like even better. Proportions are approximate but are a reasonable mixture for both health in taste.
- One cup of dried chickpeas which have been soaked for at least 24 hours then dry roasted in a frying pan either on a stove, fire or in the oven
- ⅓ cup of fresh strawberries or juneberries if you can forage them
- ⅓ cup of fresh blackberries, wild if you can forage them
- ⅓ cup of fresh blueberries, wild if you can forage them
- ⅓ cup of chopped walnuts
This is a remarkably tasty mixture while somewhat high in natural sugar has a fair amount of fiber and healthier fats compared to store bought cookies or trail mixes which usually use chocolate and peanuts rather than healthier chickpeas, fruits and walnuts.