A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

The Ford Ranger, which I've been talking about off and on all week, is quite underpowered. However, I'm satisfied with its tiny, 8-plug, 2.3 litre engine because it sips gasoline sparingly. Vancouver gas prices are estimated to be around $1.00 Canadian per litre all summer.

Apparently. the following means of transport also has limited weight capabilities.

Labels: cars, humour, Ranger

On Monday, my entry recounted waxing my old truck. Yesterday, I brought it to the garage for its 60,000-mile maintenance. Even though I went expressly to do so, the tiny service pamphlet didn't mention changing the timing belt at this time. This is normal-duty, preventive maintenance, isn't it?

Something else surprised me. After all these years, I still have half of my original brake pads/linings remaining. Every time I go to work, I curse the poor driving skills of most of the idiots on the road around me. They accelerate right up to within millimeters of the red traffic light. Like, ye gads, look ahead! Furthermore, I must drive down Royal Oak Avenue in Burnaby. It is a very long, steep incline but I never keep my foot on the brake pedal. Most people in the other vehicles do --- all the way down the hill, in fact. As my Ranger has a 5-speed stick transmission, I can keep it in third gear. I guess that's not a possibility for many cars on North American roads.

Labels: driving, maintenance, Ranger

Canola is now the second largest oilseed crop in the world after soybeans. You might have heard a little about its reputation as a healthy oil.

HISTORY
Although variations of rapeseed are among the world's oldest cultivated crops, canaola's background doesn't begin until the 1960's. The name is a combination of the words CANADA and OIL. In order to create a healthier oil, Canadian specialists started working to reduce a chemical that produced a bad taste, and several types of fatty acids. Success was reached in the 1970's by plant breeders in Manitoba and it now differs genetically from its plant ancestors. Even the name is a registered trademark of the Canadian Canola Association.

DESCRIPTION
When you see a field of canola, you will be overwhelmed by the yellow colour. These flowers produce pods, similar in shape to pea pods but a fifth the size. Inside each pod are tiny round seeds that are crushed to obtain canola oil. Each seed contains about forty per cent oil. The rest of the seed is made into canola meal, used as high-protein livestock feed.

LOCATION
It's produced extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, and to a limited extent in the US. In Canada, canola grows well on the prairies due to it's ability to thrive in environments with little water and high daytime but low nighttime temperatures. One reason for its popularity is because the same machinery can be used to harvest canola as other cereal grains. In fact, it's become Canada's major crop, and since 1994 has produced greater agricultural revenues here than wheat.


Here's Jay standing near the seemingly
endless fields of yellow canola in Saskatewan.

Labels: Canada, flora and fauna

I don't know what's up with the Googlebots lately. Until recently, they did an excellent job of stopping by here each day. This meant that the information on this page was searchable after a single day. The last time Google checked here, even after repeated submissions, was on March 8th. Only about a quarter of my archived pages are presently indexed although the server has been functioning without trouble. In addition, response times at the blogger.com site have been abysmal for around six weeks. Does the behemoth have too many irons in its fire?

Then, just when I had thought Alta Vista was a footnote in the annals of search history, it surprised me. Its Image Search contained a fair number of photographs from this blog. Although not at all complete, it's a far sight better than Google's equivalent.

All this occurs as Microsoft's MSN search seems to be getting better and better. It has not forgotten to keep abreast of my eJournal and images. I will have to make a conscience effort to remember to type into that search bar more often!

Labels: blogging, Google

There's probably not a place on the planet you've visited which isn't included in someone's personal photos on Webshots. Click on community and enter a search term. (Are there really only 263,663 current photos of Las Vegas?)


Likewise, there's music in few languages
which is not presently available in a webcast.

Labels: Flickr, Mediaplayer, world

One tends to take a long-term relationship for granted. After nine years, things fell into a routine and there was simply not a spark anymore.



It was t-shirt weather so I decided to wax it yesterday.

In the early years, I was religious about waxing the truck every spring. I am not so sure I bothered in 2004 or perhaps even 2003! Yet, there was Turtle Wax under the seat. Hand waxing really is the only way to reacquaint oneself with a vehicle. The commerical car wash's super-Teflon, guaranteed mega-glossy wax coating is not really effective. It takes a real rag and hard work to rekindle those thoughts of new-vehicle love.

When applying car wax, one gets an up-close and personal view. It's obvious the car or truck will never look like it did when new, but somehow those scratches carry an understanding and value. "Oh, yeah that little dent occurred when I backed into the concrete post behind Blockbuster," you remember. "That scratch was made when we left it in a parking lot in Winnipeg."

My truck was never cool nor sexy. The reason I own it is because it's practical. But an hour and a half of time spent waxing made me remember the feeling when buying it. Although I can't remember doing so previously, I was happy enough to take a picture.

Labels: cars, maintenance, Ranger

Yesterday was one of those days. It was again clear and sunny. The cherry, willow, and magnolia trees were clearly doing their utmost to show off. This meant that, just as earlier in the week, everybody and their cousin were out.

Similarly, I took my camera and went for a walk.

Some owners had dogs on leashes while many new parents were pushing around prams (strollers). I was keeping mental notes as to which camp had stronger numbers. It was very close but I'd say the dogs won ... by a hair.

Labels: camera