Saturday, December 18, 2010

Old house archeology


When working on an old house, it is not uncommon to find clues about how old it is.  Old house archeology if you will.  Based on the types and thicknesses of lumber, and the kind of nails and so on, we already know the house was built in several stages.

We think the most recent stage was the kitchen addition, where the kitchen swallowed the porch.  Since I ran across waferboard, that told me it had to be in the 70's or later.  I'm so old, I remember vividly when wafterboard (aspenite, chipboard, etc) came out.   

While tearing up the floor, I ran across two artifacts.  One was a religious tract dated in the early 70's, titled, "WILL MANKIND DESTROY ITSELF?"  This was a product of the Watchtower publishing house, an arm of the Jehovah's Witnesses.  This, together with the six-pack rings were used to shim up part of the floor.  I found the juxtaposition of a beer product and a cult religious pamphlet to be amusing.

As an interesting side note, the Witnesses have predicted several times about when the last great battle will occur (Armageddon), when Jesus will return, and the resurrection of the dead.  To date, they have been 100% wrong, which looks bad when you are a self proclaimed prophetic organization.  Like many cults, the followers do not seem to be overly alarmed by their abysmal batting average.  

Ultimately, they will probably get it "right" by accident.  If you predict the end of the world long enough...

I prefer my nice conservative orthodox Christian Reformed denomination. 

At any rate, we should all be ready to meet our maker, since we will all end up face to face as it were, in the next hundred years.


Finest regards,

troy

1 comment:

Mary VK said...

Fun to think about items from the 70s as "artifacts." In our lives, that is not so long ago!

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