What can be counted?

If we take down our clothesline and buy an electric clothes dryer, the electric use of the nation rises slightly. If we go in the other direction and replace the dryer with a clothesline, the consumption of electricity drops slightly, but there is little credit given anywhere on the graphs to solar energy which is now drying our clothes.

If we depend on the more customary old-fashioned uses of solar energy like growing food, drying clothes, sun bathing, or warming a house with south facing windows, the sun credit is virtually ignored.

Driving a motorcycle would show the gasoline consumed in the nation’s energy budget. But if we get a horse to ride and graze the horse on range nearby, the horse’s energy which we used does not appear in anyone’s energy accounting.

(We do note the obvious: our hydro-electric power is solar energy no older than our weather patterns and that coal and natural gas are all solar products stored ages ago by photosynthesis.)

As Einstein points out, we do tend to underestimate and devalue the things that we can’t precisely measure or price or even guess at with certainty.

It is worth remembering that even if we can’t derive a formula for exactly how and at what cost the sun and wind did their magic, after a couple of hours the clothes are indeed dry!

So…let’s think on those things that count for us, even if they can’t be counted!

Choosing a life lesson…

So…what have YOU learned about life so far? Below are eight of my “lessons learned!” I bet you also have a number of lessons you have learned through the years. I’d love to have you share a favorite or two! (And here is an extra one that comes to my mind!)

Some “elder” thoughts of mine…

Some people try to turn back their “odometers.” Not me. I want people to know why I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved! I would like to know why the easiest way to find something that I lost around the house is to go out and […]

Did you get that diploma?

Maybe we got the diploma/ license/award… but we are still enrolled in Life 101 and have more to do. Maybe we finished something or brought it to a conclusion, but aren’t yet where we want to be or thought we would be. And that’s okay. A “graduation” is also a “commencement.” And Life 101 is […]

Telling yourself a story?

Like me, I’ll bet you have a “story” for just about everything! Why you can’t lose weight, why you can’t keep to your budget, why you can’t learn a new skill… “I’m just big-boned.” “I’ve never been good with math.” “I’m too old.” Like me, you probably know that the story we tell ourselves is […]

Does English make any sense?

(In my first incarnation in the olden days of long ago!), I found some humor in teaching recalcitrant 7th and 8th graders the “rules” of the English language. Some rules do seem to have the fun of being self-contradictory! Our language continues to change. Perhaps it’s evolving, not just degenerating? Whatever the reason, it sure […]

Which do you believe?

Many popular sayings are correct, even insightful, when we apply them to our life’s circumstances. But when properbs are viewed without qualification, they can cancel each other out! (Thus, my nerdy ex-English teacher and avid reader side has taken control of this post!) And we’ve all heard that “birds of a feather flock together” AND […]

The ‘weeds’ in our lives…

When do we consider a plant a weed? Simply expressed, a weed is a plant that grows where it isn’t wanted by us. Weeds are defined by their tendency to flourish at the expense of a gardener’s overall vision and we tend to battle their presence in our yards. (Guess what I’ve been doing these […]

A story about being lost…

Once upon a time…a man was walking down a road. At first the places were known to him, but became less and less familiar. Finally he knew he was in a new place and was lost. The traveler kept walking until he was at the foot of a steep hill. He was too tired to […]

My new favorite color!

Almost nothing else represents the emergence of spring like the beloved yellow daffodil, happy and bright after its (and my) long winter’s nap. I think some things on this earth were designed to bring happiness to the hearts of humans: thus the daffodil! It’s as if the sun had shed a layer of skin and […]