Jeep Performance Improvement Ideas
Smash is starting to collect tick already this year. Every afternoon during a pet the puppy session, I pluck off a dozen or so ticks.
I hate to use chemicals but I am seriously considering using K9 Advantix flea and tick medicine.
According to their web site, Advantix kills not only ticks but other parasites for up to a month.
Spring Allergies and Sinus Headaches
I used to have horrible sinus headaches this time of year. I was nearly addicted to ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine. Even with these chemicals taken on a regular basis, I still suffered with headaches and alternating between a stuffy and a runny nose.
But the last couple of years, I have suffered mush less. That is as long as I remember to take my daily dose of OPC-3. The OPC-3 is a natural grape seed extract that comes in a powder and is mixed with water to form an isotonic mixture.
If I remember to drink a shot in the morning, I have hardly any allergy symptoms all day. This is great stuff. The biggest trouble is that after taking it for a few days, I feel so good that I forget about it. Then it takes a few more days for it to wear off and I feel bad again.
I really love the positive effects that OPC-3 has on my body. More than just preventing the sinus headaches and such, it gives me more energy. It is also supposed to boost the immune system.
I really like to take it mixed with the ORAC anti oxidant compound. Mixed together they have a great grape juice taste and I get a real energy burst that last most of the day.
Stone Door
I have wanted to visit The Stone Door for years. I was never quite sure where it was although I had seen the brown signs many times as I traveled to Middle Tennessee. One very cold day I decided to go.
The Stone Door is located in the Savage Gulf wilderness area. The entrance is in Beersheba Springs, TN. Once you find Beersheba Springs, just follow the brown signs.
There is a very nice Ranger Station at the entrance with large clean heated restrooms. There is a large parking area so I suspect that this place gets crowded in the summer. We pretty much had the place to ourselves on this cold December day.
We loaded my dog Smash in the back of Bertha our GMC Suburban. There had been snow a few days before but we found the roads clear. Jennifer brought along her boys Hunter and Caleb, and she and Janice packed us a picnic lunch.
I managed to make one wrong turn along the way and followed a sign to Savage gulf instead of waiting for the sign to Stone Door. That lead us to another nice picnic spot that I will revisit when it is warmer. There is a trail to a waterfall there. We simply used their restroom facilities and let Smash get a drink. Then we headed to the other side of the gulf to find the Stone door.
Right behind the ranger station is a very pretty waterfall called Laurel falls. It drops off an under cut rock. Due to the extreme cold there were lots of very pretty icicles hanging off the rocks. We did not spend a lot of time here; just enough to see the falls. There was ice on the trail that made walking hazardous and we were concerned that the two young boys were getting a bit close to the edge. The trail makes a loop that returns to the ranger station.
Next we took the trail to the Stone Door. That is what I came to see. The trail begins as a narrow paved walkway. There is what looks like an old Jeep trial that runs parallel to the trail. Smash and I hiked part of the Jeep trail and really wished they would let us drive on it.
Smash was very excited to be there and seemed to forget some of his leash training. He wanted to run ahead of every one and tugged on the leash a bit. After a few reminders, he clamed down and behaved. He still did not like it if one of the boys tried to walk in front of him. He preferred being the lead dog.
We traded out who held the leash and it seemed whomever had it always ended up out walking the rest of the group. But we managed to stay close together. The pavement ends at a beautiful overlook of the gulf. We could hear the water rushing in the creek below. The view of the cliffs and the lush forest was breathtaking. So was the cold wind so we did not stay much longer than required to take a few pictures. Smash was also very impatient.
The trail winds through the woods along the edge of the gulf. There was one very interesting gnarly old pine tree along the way. Smash gave it a sniff and continued on along the trail.
Eventually we reached the Stone Door. It did not seem like much at first then I stepped in between the rocks and realized the magnitude of it. The Doorway is a very narrow passage between two rocks that tower at least 100 feet above the canyon below.
There is a narrow staircase formed form rocks leading down to the valley below. Icicles hung from the cliffs above and ice coated many of the steps. I had to be very careful walking and holding Smash’s leash. He was in a huge hurry to get to the bottom and I did not want either of us to fall.
Once we made it safely to the bottom and looked up, I saw how truly amazing the place is. The tall rocks seem to dwarf the narrow staircase.
Once every one made it down we took some time to explore the ledge below the cliff. There were some interesting overhangs and little caves in the cliff walls. There were more stairs leading to the valley even further below but we did not continue down. The boys had fun exploring the rocks and ledges and breaking off icicles.
We finally decided to hike back up and out. Hiking up the slippery steps was actually easier than going down.
At the top I explored the rocks that I had ignored on the way down. There is an interesting gap between the main mountain and the edge of the cliff. It looks like the cliff edge has slid off some creating a gap. There was also a very interesting looking sinkhole that Smash sniffed.
Once back on the trail Hunter lost some interest in hiking and decided he was tired. He is only five. But when I told him he had to look out for bears and growled behind him he took off running back toward the ranger station.
Back at the Suburban, we unpacked our picnic and commandeered a table. We dined on sandwiches and chips and pork rinds. Smash enjoyed a few snacks as well.
We ate briskly due to the very cold temperature. We were all very happy to be back in the warmth of the Suburban for the trip home.
Trouble shooting a gas burner
While there is a lot of mystery surrounding flame safety circuits, gas burners are actually quite easy to trouble shoot. They really only need three things to operate: a fuel supply, combustion air and an ignition source.
In a forced are furnace, the combustion fan will come on first to purge the chamber. After a predetermined time, the flame controller will open the gas valve and provide an ignition source. If the flame is not detected in a few seconds, the gas will shut off and a new cycle will be required to relight.
The gas will be controlled by an electric solenoid valve. It opens and closes with an audible click.
The first step in trouble shooting the system is to determine if the combustion fan is running. There is often a time delay before the fan begins to run after the system is energized. Check the time control relay if the fan will not start or does not start at the correct time.
Next there will be some kind of air proving mechanism. Often this is a simple as a paddle in the air steam connected to a switch. It may also be an air pressure switch. Make sure that the air proving signal is present before moving forward.
Once the controller is satisfied that there is sufficient air and the combustion chamber is purged, the gas valve will open and the ignition source will fire. You can usually tell if the gas valve is opening by listening for it to click or feeling for it to open.
The two most common types of ignition are the pilot light and the electronic ignition. The pilot light is a separate flame that runs all the time. The electronic ignition consists of a spark rod and a high voltage coil. The coil provides the voltage end to make a spark at the gap on the spark rod. A neon lamp can be held near the wire to ensure high voltage is present during the spark cycle.
If the controller does not sense a flame within a few seconds of opening the gas valve, it will close the valve again and purge the system.
If you are having trouble lighting the burner after the gas valve opens, verify the gas pressure and make sure the gas orifices are clean.
If the valve fails to open, suspect a problem with the gas control circuit. Often this is a printed circuit board. Filed repairs or modifications are not generally allowed to these boards for safety reasons. If the board is bad, you will have to replace it with an approved unit.
If the burner lights but goes out with in a few seconds, there may be a problem with the flame sensing mechanism. In many burners this is simply a rod that generates a voltage in the presence of a flame. If bad it will need to be cleaned or replaced. Some systems use an optical flame sensor. These need periodic cleaning and eventual replacement as the voltage from the flame eye decays with age.
If the flame is unstable check the gas source for proper pressure or contamination.
Understanding how a gas burner works can make trouble shooting relatively easy. However, it is often hard to access the components in an enclosed furnace. It may be possible to remove the burner form the duct work and bench test the unit. If you find that the air proving switch works o the bench but not with the unit installed, check for blockages in the duct work.
Never attempt to relight a burner that has not been properly purged. Never do anything that will shortcut or bypass the purge cycle. Using these steps you should be able to isolate the cause of a gas burner problem quickly and possible save an expensive service call.
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The Hero Complex
One of Carl Jung’s archetypes is the hero. We all love the hero in our stories and movies. He is the one who despite all odds, swoops in to save the day. He puts aside his human vulnerabilities and makes every thing right in the end. Usually he does so with his own brute force or superior intellect.
The hero usually has no knowledge of the subtle forces of the universe working behind the scenes to create the situations he prevails against. He sees only the surface circumstances and his own power to save the day.
Without even realizing it, many of us long to be heroes. We love to help others who are less fortunate. We get great pleasure from pulling some one up or assisting them in some circumstance.
Often the pleasure is heightened when there is a common enemy involved. We often seek out someone or some organization to play the role of the villain so that we can be the hero and rescue some other soul from its evil clutches.
We often join in support groups where we commiserate with others about how we have been wronged by this person or that organization. When we cannot play the role of hero ourselves, we often seek out a hero. We look for someone to save us for the conditions that seem to be inflicted upon us.
What this hero complex misses is the realization that we each create our own reality. We create this though our thoughts both conscious and unconscious. Through what Jung refers to as synchronicity, events take place so that we see our beliefs played out in front of us in what we perceive as reality.
For example if we believe that money is scarce and that we have to work hard for money, we will see ourselves surrounded by poverty. We will create an evil villain out of the rich people around us believing that it is because of their oppression that so many are forced into poverty. We will totally ignore the opportunities that we have to create wealth for ourselves because we believe that the evil villain is repressing us.
Instead we will look for a hero to save us. We will seek a leader who will crush the evil rich people and spread the wealth among the poor and oppressed. Or we may try to be that hero and try to take down the rich. We will seek ways to destroy their wealth so that it will not be a constant reminder that we have not created the wealth that they have.
As a hero we take joy in watching one of the evil rich people come to ruin in either a personal scandal or bankruptcy. What we often fail to notice is that these situations are but temporary set backs to those who understand the workings of the universe. Even if they loose all their wealth, they will use the universal principles to create more wealth unless they too fall victim to he blame game and begin searching for or acting as a hero.
The hero loves to solve problems. He feels good when he overcomes some great obstacle to attain success. People who attain the same success with out the seeming struggle are often looked down upon by those who seek the hero archetype. Success that comes too easy is not looked upon as success. Even if the results are the same.
The belief that life was meant to be a struggle is furthered by fictional stories of all types. The most common form of story telling is that of a hero who saves the day. The more interesting the villain; the greater the hero. Often a large part of the story is spent creating and intensifying the evilness of the villain. Little may be know about he hero but he is considered a great man if he saves the day against the villain.
All we need to know about our hero is that he has some weakness that he has to overcome and that he overcomes the villain the end. We feel better about our hero if he uses his greater strength or cunning skills to overcome a villain than if the circumstances or luck play a large part in the salvation.
By having grown up listening to these stories, we often feel the need to seek out heroes or become them ourselves. We seek validation by becoming either a victim or a hero or possibly both.
Examples can come from every day life as well as form our great stories. Think about a lime when you lost your keys and had someone help you find them. Or remember a time when you had car trouble and suddenly a helpful person appeared as if from nowhere to help you get going again. In these cases we maybe we were the one who saved the day. Think about how good that made you feel.
Rather than seeking to create situations where things just work out and you always know where your keys are and your car is always safe and reliable, we tend to notice these extenuating circumstances more. By putting more emotional energy into these situations, we create more of them.
When we act upon the hero complex the feel good energy released from assisting someone in distress becomes like a drug. You feel useless and unworthy when you are not actively helping someone with a problem. In these cases, the larger part of you works behind the scenes using synchronicity to create more and more situations where you can act as a hero.
As your subconscious gets better and better at creating these situations you may begin to feel overwhelmed. But instead of taking at look at your belief system and working to create a different pattern, you may start looking for your own hero. You begin to act as a victim yourself and continue to create more and more of these situations that require a hero’s assistance.
The hero victim cycle becomes addictive and often there seems to be no solutions. Bigger and bigger problems are created that require larger and larger heroes.
The only solution to the hero complex is to stop look at the problems and start looking at the situations that are desired. This method is completely counter intuitive to both the hero and the victim. In fact it may be impossible for them to comprehend. It takes a huge paradigm shifty to even begin to think about such an environment.
Only through concentrated and conscious effort can the thought process be restructured to stop finding villains and start seeking opportunities. Scarcity thinking plays heavily into the minds of both hero and victim. Only by considering infinite resources can we break out of the hero victim cycle and begin to create the world and circumstances that we desire.
The hero complex is deeply ingrained into western culture and may be very difficult to break in our thought process. Recognizing the hero complex is the first step to ward creating the circumstances you desire rather than fighting against those that we do not desire.
I welcome your comments and would love to hear your examples of the hero complex in your life. Please enter your comments below.