Timberology

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Thistle Update 5_31_11 There is some new photos on the Thistle page, but I thought it should get page one attention. The sheathing and felt paper is on the roof, the windows are installed, and with a little more “button up” work we will be able to say this one is dried in folks. This is an energy efficient home and I am detailing a few items that make it so. Be sure to go to the Thistle page to check it out.

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In order to comprehend the infinitely large, you need to concentrate on the infinitely small

I am not suggesting this is an original idea. Just kind of one of those things that rolls around in your mind as a intriguing possibility. I have found myself, over the last couple of years, becoming interested in quantum physics. It is one of those subjects that is inherently fascinating as it is frustrating to understand and apply. Randomness seems to be it’s standard operating procedure. It is nothing like the observable universe you and I seemingly live in. Yet, like the HTML code these exact words are being written on, it is beneath our observable world. It comprises everything we accept as reality. In the quantum reality there are no solids, simply particles and waves. And space. A vast, incomprehensible amount of space between particles. When I first looked at the illustration of the atom shown here, it looked familiar. Hauntingly familiar. Like a face in a crowd that reasonates with one’s soul, but remains nameless, unidentifiable. With the negatively charged electrons and positively charge protons, mixed with the electrically neutral neutrons, dancing around the centralized nucleus, a pattern arose from this electromagnetically held force. I know now what struck a chord with me. It is identical to our solar system. The sun is the nucleus. The planets and moons are the electrons, protons, and neutrons. Gravity replaces electromagnitism as the bonding source of energy for the orbiting nature. I got all excited about the possibilities and manifestations this epiphany I had and rushed to google the phrase “planets revolving around the sun”. My purpose was to put a picture of the revolving planets next to this atom illustration. Once there what did I find? Yeah, that’s right. A picture of the atom saying something like “similar to the orbiting planets around the sun…” Anyway, regardless of the originality factor consider this. In space, less than five percent of the universe is observable stars, planets, galaxies, basically atoms. The rest is described as dark matter or dark energy that no one can explain how it works or why it exists. Scientist’s describe the first seconds after the Big Bang as the universe filling up with the very same elements: protons, electrons, and neutrons. The real interest though, is not in the atoms, instead it is the space between the atoms. The dark matter or dark energy or whatever it is that overwhelmingly occupies space. I am convinced the answer for the infinite expanding universe lies behind the veil of the subatomic surface.

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I have added another update to the Shaftsbury Glen page. Take a moment to see how the house is progressing.

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Ah yes wonderful, warm sunlight beaming it brightness and life-giving rays on Mother Earth. The star that makes it all possible. We are made of star material and so is the entire universe around us. As it mystified ancient cultures before us, today we still marvel at it’s brilliance, it’s exact prominance in our daytime sky. It is not too far to create a frozen tundra, yet not to close to bake us out of existence. It’s essence is to provide us with the life sustaining ingredient of photosynthesis to our food cycle. This leads us to the Jean-Paul Sartre basic premise of the existentialist philosophy. There are two primary beings: itself (l’en-soi) which is fixed. It just is. It has no reason for it’s being. Then there is second being (le pour-soi) which is a being for itself. It is dependent upon the former being for it’s existance and has no fixed nature. Doesn’t this describe perfectly of our relationship to the great fireball in the sky? The massive (it represents 98% of the mass in our solar system) star is projected to stay “being” for another 5 million or some odd years, fortunate for us hapless human “beings”. Another example of existence (the fixed nature sun) preceding essence (the no fixed nature man).

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Had some problems with the Cincopa slide galleries going down and I am changing them out with WordPress slides, Sorry for the technical problems, but all should be resolved by Monday. I guess the increased traffic as of late caused me to run out of Cincopa time allotments without paying them monthly for their services. That will just make Timberology leaner, greener, and meaner (hey it rhymed didn’t it?). Power to the people and WordPress…Check out the new First Flight Stair page Radius Ceilings. Some of the best unfinished, rough framing work we do.

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Poodwaddle.com

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Modern building practices now embrace the green philosophy of conservation as a social conciousness. It has changed how we in the building industry approach our business lives. Consumers are aware of and rewarded for thinking globally. Just about every product offering in the building industry today has taken a new direction based on the green movement. From high seer HVAC units to increased “R” value insulation, there are a number of “solutions” offered for energy conservation. The trick is not to expend a fortune in order to obtain efficiency. The most cost effective energy efficient upgrades that can be made are high performance vinyl, low E windows combined with radiant barrier sheathing.

An update has been added to the profiled Shaftsbury Glen project. Soon we will be doing another large custom home off of Watertower Rd, as plans are being finalized presently. Several other projects are close to starting as well. Soon, we will be adding commercial buildings to the component building resume. We are almost done with the latest curved aluminum exterior stair shown here as First Flight Stairs and Dunn Metalworks combine talents and resourses to be “greater than the sum of their parts”. Much like the green movement, thinking and working in unison creates a force more powerful than what can be acheived working independently.

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You know, it can’t always be about the work WE do. Sometimes we have to look outside of the sphere of our own existance and marvel at the wonder of the world around us. I was in Loris SC this afternoon to see all my hardworking, industrious friends and co-workers at the BFS Truss Division. Actually I wasn’t just driving around, I turned in a truss order there. I got this shot of Richard Theriot (I just refer to him as THE RIOT) loading a set of trusses with the big lift, the long forked monster, and thought it would look cool on the “shock and awe” post. Remember the show “Tool Time”? What was that sound Tim made when he found something impressive to demonstrate to his audience? Some caveman sounding primitive utterance. That would work out well here if I could remember what it was exactly. Anyway, The other picture is from the Thistle jobsite. It is the tower roof rafters over the tower wall panels all meeting in the center. Pretty cool, huh? Alright, enough of the awe part of the post. Now for the shock. There was a news story today about Stephen Hawking and regardless of how you feel about the religious significance, he said something to be profound. The dictionary states: Definition of PROFOUND. 1. a: having intellectual depth and insight. And this statement certainly does. When asked what should humans do to lend meaning to their experience?

“We should seek the greatest value of our action,” Hawking told the paper. Let’s just forget the cliche George Bush title and enter that under the “awe” category too.

 

 

 

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….breakin’ up the scenery, blowin’ my mind, do this don’t do that, can’t you read the signs? Oh sorry ’bout that, just had a seventies flashback episode I guess. A local retailer uses First Flight Stairs as a manufacturer of the surrounding cities signs as popular item in their stores.You know like abbreviated city stickers on the back windows of cars; esoteric symbols of patriotism for home or home away from home, which is often the case in tourist communities. Got Scott to hold some of them up for a “mug shot” (quite literally obviously). Scott is a very talented installer of the products we manufacture, and a trim carpenter supreme in his own right. I always give props to the people who interact one on one with the customers because they represent the “face” of any company. Scott does an excellent job of public relations by pleasing the customers and responding to their requests. We have started another curved aluminum exterior stair. These photos demonstrate how wooden walls are constructed as “jigs” in the formation process in the shop. Seems like these curved stairs are in demand lately. But, like anything else, you create your own demand through product advertising reinforcement. When I mention synergy, this is the definition:a mutually advantageous conjunction of distinct elements. Bringing together the two elements of steel and wood products is what is the common ground here at Timberology.

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Post Script Note: Straight from Wikipedia; “Signs” is a song by the Canadian rock group Five Man Electrical Band. It was written by Les Emmerson and popularized the somewhat unknown band, who performed it for their second album, Good-byes and Butterflies in 1970. “Signs” was originally released that year as the B-side to the unsuccessful single “Hello Melinda Goodbye”.Re-released in 1971 on the A-side, “Signs” reached No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.”
This should clear up any misconceptions that the song “Signs” was ever sung or recorded by Guns and Roses, no matter how shrill Axel Roses’s voice gets on “Sweet Child of Mine” (which rhymes with sign but is the only similiarity I know, obvious or inferred, between the two songs).

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One of my fav’s from the ’70s