El Ramate

There are a lot of pros and cons to what I do. A big con is most people really don't want to see me. Sure maybe in the mall to say "Hi" or from across the stadium at a football game, but in reality most people actually say to me "I'd rather be anywhere else that here." Don't get me wrong, I get it and I don't take it personally. A big pro of what I do is that it is a skill set that is needed and can help both at home and abroad. I have been a member of the charitable organisation Dentistry For All for many years now, and we travel to Guatemala and Nicaragua to provide dental work to remote areas where the need is great and the access to care is none. I recently just returned from another trip to the northern region of El Ramate in Guatemala, and it proved yet again to be both exhausting and rejuvenating. I had the pleasure to travel with some absolutely wonderful, hard working, dedicated and compassionate   individuals

We worked hard and helped a lot of people

Saw some unique scenes

and worked in hard to reach areas,

Making sure we savoured every moment

Made new friends, and fortified relationships with old ones...

And found no problem getting out of bed at 5:30 every morning for a coffee and a beautiful sunrise before heading out to put our drop in the bucket of need.

Boltzmann was a wise cookie

 Entropy may be understood as a measure of  disorder

Ludwig Eduard Boltzman,An Austrian Physicist and philosopher, (wow! there is a career path the guidance councilor didn't talk to me about in high school. )This guy studied the statistical  mechanics of atoms, which in coles notes for dummies would kinda explain that all things, if in a ordered state, will eventually degrade to a state of chaos....or what scientists like to call "thermodynamic equilibrium, the state with maximum entropy"!

The change in entropy (ΔS) of a system was originally defined for a thermodynamically reversible process as
${\displaystyle \Delta S=\int {\frac {\delta Q_{\text{rev}}}{T}}}$







Soooooooo, a pictorial way to say this would be, from neat and tidy to:

In very short order!

As most of the ducting work has been handled(note I said most, and by most I mean some)

It was time for me to be a little creative with a two fold problem.
1. I need to run the 120V electical wires to the AC panel.
2. I need to rectify the fact that the seat portion of the rear bench is too deep.

So I am bringing the seat back forward by 4". This will allow a electrical wire chase, as well as solve the seat depth problem, as well as give us some extra storage behind the seat back for blankets and sheets.

It took a few trips up and down from the woodshop to the bus but we eventually got what we were looking for.
I will now bid you farewell for a few weeks as I am off to Guatemala to do some volunteer dental work in some remote areas of the country. Hopefully by the time I return the grass will be showing....or not....at least not as MUCH snow?

Interupting Cow

 Now... we' are all different and we all have our own ways of communicating and concentrating. As such I have found that I don't like to be interrupted. It's not because I don't value what others have to say, I really do! It's just that in a discussion, I have learned that my form of effective communication is more of a 'case presentation' format rather than a group brain storming discussion. I think its safe to say my wife would agree with that sentiment.
I find the same rules apply to when I am mid project, I get into a groove and sometimes it's hard for me to change directions.

Just the other day I was working on the furnace ducting....still.

I was having issues with effective design. Not just design of delivery but design of  retrieve ability. I want the option to remove a section or two of the cabinetry to access other system components like, oh I dont know the battery bank perhaps. So the ducting has to be able to be disconnected at various points to allow cabinet removal.

 I would like to say easy enough, but the truth is I was having issues moving from a 90mm diameter duct to two 60mm ducts. The reducer I had, but the orientation of it created a "bundle" of pipes which ended up getting in the way of the drawers. So, I had to re-position the reducer...to behind the fridge.

 So once again the fridge comes out(I'm getting good at this now), drilled another hole ran some more pipe!

 Next was to cover all the ducting with insulation sleeves. This will help with heat loss in non critical areas.

 I was just finishing up the ducting on the rear bench cross over, when I got my interruption.
My kids learned at a very early age that they should never come to me and say "I'm bored!" The unwritten rule is, if you are bored and are coming to me to help entertain you, I will find you something to do. The catch is, it may not be what you want(work). But that unwritten rule sword has two edges. So if a kid comes to me and says(paraphrasing here)...." I have an idea, and I need some help", then I have to respect the ingenuity and creativity and try to facilitate the process. Sometimes that means "here are the hammer and nails, have fun!". And sometimes it means it's time to drop what you're doing and help make the dream a reality. The decision to stop what you are doing all happens in a split second and the feelings that run through you are akin to the old Knock-Knock joke:

Knock-Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting Cow!
Interrupting Cow wh-
"MOOOO!"

For the briefest of moments you are annoyed at the interruption, but in the next instant you are smiling and so glad for the opportunity.

 Jeff came to me and said, " Dad? I want to build a snow bike!" I stopped and ran the scenario through my head, and after a brief moment realized my schedule for the afternoon was about to change. After my initial immediate reaction of being put off by the interruption in my perceived chain of events, in truth I got quite excited about the process. Jeff had a plan and a pretty good idea of what needed to happen. So truthfully my input was as shop runner, advice and safety officer!

 Frankly Jeff ,at the tender age of 14, can lay down quite the weld!

 Many of his welds were better, and prettier than mine!

 A wonderful afternoon of creativity

 And in the end something he is proud of and his mother is scared of!