Busy Lives and New Trucks

Life has been overly hectic of late and I've been out the of loop with my online presence, but the good news is my rental property is now ready to rent and ads have been placed so we should get a new tenant soon. Besides working on my rental I gave in and bought a new truck. We had several expensive things wrong with my old truck and it was 12 years old and had 180K miles on it. Now I have a vehicle that doesn't need work and even if it does, for now I can drop it off at the dealer and get a loaner while they work on it. This gives us more time to work on the toy cars instead of the daily drivers.

I basically replaced my old truck with the new version, it's a Ford F150 XLT extended cab. The only difference, besides being shiny and new, is this truck has a 6'5" bed instead of the long bed. It is easier to park though, and it has a variety of nifty little features like a Sync system so I can plug in my iPod or use Bluetooth. And it's a different shade of blue. I love it!

Quote of The Week

If you are to be, you must begin by assuming responsibility.  You alone are responsible for every moment of your life, for every one of your acts.
    

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Happy Easter!

So why is there a bunny hiding eggs and leaving baskets on Easter and what does it have to do with the holiday?

You have to go way back before Christianity and look at the Pagan religions, as with most current Christian holidays, there is something from the Pagan religions of old at Easter.

Many Pagan cultures had Spring festivals to celebrate the renewal of life that comes with the end of Winter. There was a festival in honor of Eostre or Eastre, the goddess of dawn, Spring, and fertility. Both the hare and the egg were symbols of fertility and closely linked to Eastre.

The missionaries that spread Christianity put a variety of Pagan rituals and beliefs within the context of Christian holidays, thereby making it easier to convert them to the new religion. The Eastre festival became the Christian celebration of Christ's resurrection and the two events merged into one. Over time, the hare became a rabbit and as we turned into an industrialized world and chocolate became popular and mass-produced, it worked its way into those gifts from the rabbit. Originally, it was just gifts of eggs, so that's where the eggs come from.

Now there are Easter bunnies throughout most of the world. But not Australia. When rabbits were brought to Australia they multiplied to such a degree that they've become a pest. They've caused massive destruction to habitats and crops and caused a decline in the populations of several native animals. So, as a result, the Aussie's have converted the bunny to a bilby, a vaguely similarly looking marsupial that is on the endangered species list.

So now you know why we have bunnies hiding chocolate filled eggs on Easter. So, do you eat the ears or the tail first?

Happy Easter!

Quote of The Week

Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words 'The' and 'IRS' together it spells 'Theirs.'


I'm not attributing this to any one person since I have no idea who said it first, but I thought it was appropriate for the week. Did you get your tax return filed yet?

Quote of The Week

"It is never the duty of the leader to struggle for someone else; a leader must encourage others to struggle and assure them that the struggles are worthwhile." -- anon

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Are you wearing green?

St. Patrick's Day began as a religious holiday honoring the late St.Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland and probably the most famous of the Catholic saints. It is believed that he died on March 17 around 460 A.D. Over time, the holiday has morphed from a religious one to a more secular one.

The day is filled with celebrations and activities all around the world and parades are held on or near the actual date. Many cities even dye waterways and fountains green in honor of the day.

One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. This stems from an Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity of the Catholic teachings. It's also a symbol of the rebirth of Spring and has been a symbol of Irish nationalism. Many Irish wore shamrocks as a sign of their patriotism.

You don't need to be of Irish descent or be a Catholic to enjoy the festivities and many people don't even know the history of the day. It's a good excuse to party and drink green beer and pinch those who neglected to wear green. Though the pinching practice and green beer seem to be uniquely American traditions.

Though if you're looking for a different take on 'green' beer, try these companies:


New Belgium, maker of the ever-popular "Fat Tire" beer and many other Belgian-style beers, it's in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and in 1998 it became the first U.S. brewery to source its energy from wind power.

Sierra Nevada in California, they've installed four 250-kilowatt co-generation fuel cell power units to supply electric power and heat to the brewery. This produces most of the brewery's electrical demand, and the co-generation boilers will harvest the waste heat and produce steam for boiling the beer and other heating needs. Additionally in 2006, Sierra Nevada kept 33,738 tons of materials --97.8 percent of their total waste, out of the landfill by recycling.

Brooklyn Brewery which, in 2003, became the first company in New York City to switch to 100 percent wind-generated electricity.

Great Lakes Brewing Co., is in Cleveland, Ohio and you can climb on board their beer delivery truck and shuttle bus (called "The Fatty Wagon") that runs on straight restaurant vegetable oil! They've cut their trash removal fees in half by recycling the usual stuff, plus brewer's barley. They print newsletters, menus, beverage napkins and promotional items on 100 percent recycled paper. In addition, all packaging (i.e., 4-packs, 6-packs, 12-packs and the unbleached "eco-carton", which holds a case of beer) consists of recycled content.

(Source: Sierra Club, The Green Life)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Quote of The Week

"Beware the ides of March."

-William Shakespeare

I couldn't resist.