The Samurai Project

Yeeee Haaah! The weather is great, averaging about 84 degrees. I added a stereo system to my garage so I can spend more quality time there, working on my toy, a 1987 Suzuki Samurai Tin Top.

News note: As I write this my Samurai is in the paint shop. I visited the shop on yesterday and it is looking great. The final color sand, clear coat and wet sand has been completed. I will pick it up this week, hopefully on Monday and then continue reinforcing the vehicle's electrical system and installing the sound system.

I have a new, chromed, Chevy truck alternator with a fabricated mounting bracket and I made a wiring harness to allow the Chevy alternator to run the idiot lights in the Suzuki dash. This mod will increase the Samurai's capability from 42 to 105 amps! I’ll Update pictures of the Samurai as I get more done.

The key components of the new audio/video system are…

Head unit with 2.5” Screen and DVD player that includes an input for a backup camera and outputs for front and rear video units. I had to fabricate a mounting for this using 1/4" birch, but now it looks like it came with the car.

Infinity 3.5” reference coax speakers custom mounted in the front dash air vents (No A/C).

Kicker CVR 10” dual coil sub woofer in a Pro-Audio sealed box on a custom mount.

An old school, Rockford Fosgate Punch 60.2 cheater amp driving the front speakers (60W/Channel@ 4 ohms, 300 watts bridged @ 2 ohms. This amp runs hot but stable at one ohm, so I expect it to be great running my infinities with clarity and power.

Kenwood 8104D Mono amp driving the sub woofer, 500W x 1 @ 2 OHMS.

Soundstream Bass expansion unit with a dash mount remote controller.

XStatic BATCAP 400 a 20 Farad equivalent hybrid capacitor with 400 CCA.

All wiring is Stinger Pro Audio and Power.

Distribution blocks and the circuit breaker are also Stinger.

All power and ground wiring is four gauge to distribution blocks, then 8 gauge to the individual components.

The system is fused by an 80 amp circuit breaker at the battery, then by 40 and 30 amp midi fuses at the amps.

All speaker wiring is 10 gauge.

The Samurai has had dynamat applied to the roof, door and rear panels to reduce or eliminate vibration noise and a new headliner was also installed.

I am going for a simple but very high quality, three way system with a great sound stage.

More to come!

What's Love Got To Do With It?!

Friends,

Have I told you lately that I love you? More importantly have I SHOWN you lately that I love you? And, what is love anyway?

I have been receiving an increasing number of emails that include words like "Send this on to 10 people and if you get it back it means that someone loves you!" Balderdash and Poppycock! What has that to do with love? I neither read nor respond to such missives. Any response to this emotionally loaded black-email, has no more to do with real love, than standing up in church in response to a challenge to 'prove that you know how to praise GOD" has to do with a real relationship with GOD.

Love is not the childish emotion portrayed on TV and in the movies. Love is a mature, conscious, committed, act of will that results in the one who bears and gives love always seeking the higher good of the loved one. Let's briefly look at what that means.

Mature means that love is rationally considered and the result of an adult decision made in awareness of it's potential consequences. Love is too important for the immature or for kids. Take that Madison Avenue!

Conscious means that love is not an accident. One does not fall in love, one walks into real love with their eyes wide open. It is however, possible and easy to fall into LUST. Lust and Love may be seen together and are easily confused, but lust looks out for self first.

A commitment is a promise to do something, and to keep on doing it, even though the feelings that led to the promise may have ebbed and even though no one else may see you doing what you said you would do. Or no one may see you not doing what you promised that you would do.

An act of will is a deliberate and wilful act that follows from the above. It is the result of will power. It is not sustained by feelings that may change from day to day or over time. It does not rely upon fickle emotions or emotionally inspired promises. It does not depend upon the actions or activities of others, nor upon the well-being of oneself. It is a determination that *I will love you, no matter what happens." It is the true meaning of the vow, "For Better or for Worse."

Seeking the higher good of the loved one is an ongoing challenge. The decisions we make reflect what we really are. One that truly loves, will consider the results of their every action upon their loved ones. Actions that will fail to advance the good of the loved one will not be taken, even though they may do no immediate harm. Thus a man that loves his family, will forgo revenge for a perceived sleight, if such revenge may result in harm to his family. A woman that loves her children may forgo getting a new luxury if that luxury would result in her having to damage her family through her absence. The father that loves his son, will chastise him. A loving friend will correct when appropriate. Doing the right thing by someone is a meaningful declaration and display of love.

There are a host of other attributes of love defined in the Bible, but a summation may be made by recognizing that God is Love; therefore, every positive aspect of God is mirrored in true and Godly love. The nature of real love is too important to be left to definition by chance or by those without a clue.

All I am saying is try real love, it works. Now; If you wish to pass this along, feel free.

Better yet, pass the love!

Back to God's Country

I've been away for a while, so it's good to finally get back to my blog and to you. I have been on quite a trip these last two months although this one could not be measured in miles.

My mother passed on May 16, 2008 at the age of 81. Although long in years and a late-comer to Texas, she was young at heart. Mama moved here and enjoyed a Texas sized adventure. She died after a short illness during which she showed the same grace and faith with which she had lived. She exhibited the strength that she had shown when facing the death of my father and the quiet resolve that had helped them raise and nurture four children in the Englewood ghetto of Chicago. I just didn't see this one coming. I was waiting to get her back to her Texas home, and she moved to her heavenly home.

Now, the Texas sky was still awesome, blue and cloudless; my magnolia tree was blooming and the yard was filled with it's beautiful and fragrant blossoms; summer was on the way and the sun was brighter as the days got hotter. It really was as beautiful as ever here in Texas. And yet...

The brightest day seemed a little darker; the prettiest flower a little less beautiful; the jokes of the rodeo clown not quiet as funny and the bird's song a bit unwelcome. I had been blessed beyond all my deserving. And yet...

I needed time to think, reflect and recollect. I needed to see the sun, shining again in my heart. I needed to get past my loss to really see my blessings. Both of my parents were gone and I needed to just get lost for a while. So I did.

Good Bye, Mama. Enjoy your new home, in the real 'God's Country.' I gained much more from your living, than I lost by your leaving. We will meet again, and that celebration will never end.

Delores Stanley
December 31, 1926 - May 16, 2008
In hoc signo spes mea, requiescant in pace.

What's Brown and Down and Dead All Over?

No, No, No, it's not the Obama campaign!

I think that I,
May never see,
A thing as dead,
As my new tree....

This was a result of the severe Texas thunderstorm Tuesday of this week. Now for my 'Yankee' friends, this seems to be the typical Texas weather event, lot's of 'sturm und drang', but two days later it's 70 degrees. The creeks have gone down and unless you were flooded it does not even seem as if we had a storm. The storm was pretty exciting though, people have reported that they saw Noah, looking for a bigger boat!

This 'live oak tree' (now obviously a misnomer) was planted in October. It didn't survive the storm winds but, it also appears to have died over the winter as there was no evidence that roots had grown at all since being planted. Fortunately the tree did not damage anything and it had a guarantee so it will be replaced by the nursery. I may use this as an opportunity to plant a magnolia tree.

In your storms, may your trees bend but not break.

The Screen Door Installation

It's 70 degrees in Desoto, TX today. The birds are singing, the geckos are starting to emerge and a brave bug or two can be seen. I decided to hang a screen door on the back of the house so that we could enjoy the breeze without the bugs. It probably took me at least twice as long as the installers would have taken, but I saved $135.00 by doing it myself.

Spring is In the Air

I had a busy week and took advantage of the spring-like temperature (60-70) to begin some outside work. First I installed a security light. Access to the light from the attic was not possible so I removed an eave vent and drilled into the attic from outside, then snaked wiring into an accessible area of the atic.


I also decided to clean up my flower beds. I replaced 11 dead or dying bushes around the house and then cleaned out the mulch and debris in the flower beds. I then weeded the beds, leveled them and placed new yard fabric and mulch. Here is one side after completion. I think that the red mulch really makes the color of the bushes pop.




Around the air conditioning coils I placed white gravel. This gives me a place to leave the water hoses. This is also an area that I do not want anything to grow in since I need to maintain access to the A/C hoses and wiring.

This shot of the front shows how the mulch's color brings out the greenery.

Last year I installed a french drain to keep water from accumulating in front of my patio. I found this solar powered lighthouse, which I mounted to a concrete slab and placed over the lava rock at the head of the drain. The flower bed here was full of 'stuff'. I cleared out everything but the Hibiscus plants and trimmed them back since they were about four feet high. The small tree was transplanted from the front. I used a total of 47 bags of red mulch or 94 cubic yards of the stuff.

Finally, a sure sign of spring. This tiny Gecko was watching me work and when I stopped to watch it, it came closer to me, unafraid. So, I picked him up and took him inside to show my wife, who wasn't as enthusiastic about the whole thing as I was.

2007 - First Christmas at Home!

Hanging Christmas decorations in a tee shirt and shorts is definitely a treat for someone from Illinois. The grass is still green and the sky is a perfect blue!

Poinsettias say Christmas everywhere. So we started out with quite a few plants but we gave them away to visitors over the holidays. Here is a survivor in the foyer.

Wow, this was a blast! When we moved I threw away our artificial tree thinking, "Why carry a tree 1000 miles when its old and will need to be replaced anyway." I did not know that I also threw away about half of our decorations, so we did a little scurrying to buy both a tree and some ornaments. Even a few days after Thanksgiving, many of the stores were out of the trees that we liked. We had not noticed Christmas sneaking up as it was just too warm. Here is our tree in a corner of the Great Room. My wife and I enjoyed Christmas and we had my mother, my brother and his wife over almost around the clock beginning on Christmas Eve.