Stewardship

When Nathaniel Roe, 92, died at his 18th-century farmhouse here the morning of June 6, his family did not call a funeral home to handle the arrangements.

Instead, Mr. Roe’s children, like a growing number of people nationwide, decided to care for their father in death as they had in the last months of his life. They washed Mr. Roe’s body, dressed him in his favorite Harrods tweed jacket and red Brooks Brothers tie and laid him on a bed so family members could privately say their last goodbyes.

The next day, Mr. Roe was placed in a pine coffin made by his son, along with a tuft of wool from the sheep he once kept. He was buried on his farm in a grove off a walking path he traversed each day.

“It just seemed like the natural, loving way to do things,” said Jennifer Roe-Ward, Mr. Roe’s granddaughter. “It let him have his dignity.”

Advocates say the number of home funerals, where everything from caring for the dead to the visiting hours to the building of the coffin is done at home, has soared in the last five years, putting the funerals “where home births were 30 years ago,” according to Chuck Lakin, a home funeral proponent and coffin builder in Waterville, Me.

The cost savings can be substantial, all the more important in an economic downturn. The average American funeral costs about $6,000 for the services of a funeral home, in addition to the costs of cremation or burial. A home funeral can be as inexpensive as the cost of pine for a coffin (for a backyard burial) or a few hundred dollars for cremation or several hundred dollars for cemetery costs.

The Roes spent $250.

More people are inquiring about the lower-cost options, said Joshua Slocum, director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a nonprofit watchdog group. “Home funerals aren’t for everybody, but if there’s not enough money to pay the mortgage, there certainly isn’t enough money to pay for a funeral,” Mr. Slocum said.

Source/Full Story: NYTimes.com

People should be doing similar things with their acres upon acres of decorative yard…

Forty bearded goats have been dispatched by the State Highway Administration to control plant growth in the area. They have been munching in an enclosed area for a week; they will stay until September, but will be put back to work next spring.

The project is part of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s “Smart, Green and Growing” legislative package, aimed at reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020.

The pilot program will be evaluated at the end of two years, and officials will determine whether to send goats to other grazing projects on state highways, according to David Buck, a spokesman for the highway administration.

The goats are reducing the state’s carbon footprint and protecting the area’s bog turtles, listed as threatened. In addition, he said, the animals are much cheaper than a mowing program: State costs are about $10,000 for two years, most of that for delivery and veterinary services.

Source/Full Story:  CNN.com

I enjoy reading Gary North’s free weekly newsletter, perhaps you will as well. This was last weeks tip.

Gary North’s Tip of the Week – July 12, 2008 Tire Code

This tip can keep you from being ripped off for hundreds of dollars. It may even save your life.

What I am about to tell you, I learned this week. I should have known for decades. So should you.

First, tires older than six years are unsafe. They have a tendency to disintegrate. It doesn’t matter that they have never been driven. The rubber disintegrates.

Second, there is a numerical code, required by Federal law, that tells you when the tire was manufactured. It appears at the end of a 12-digit code that begins with DOT.

The last 4 digits tell you the week and year. For example, 4207 means that it was produced in the 42nd week of 2007. If it’s a 3-digit code, the tire was produced in the previous century. Replace it.

Until recently, manufacturers were allowed to place the code on the inside of the tire, assuring sellers that buyers would not discover that the tire had been sitting in inventory for several years.

When the code is on the inside, it’s very difficult for the buyer to see it, even if he knows that it’s there and what it means.

Here is a recent article on the topic.

http://www.garynorth.com/snip/595.htm

Here is a photo of a tire with the code.

http://www.garynorth.com/snip/596.htm

Before you buy new tires, ask the salesman to show you the exact tires to be installed — not “looks just like this (but 10 years older).” Check the code. Do not pay for tires older than six months. It’s your money.

Check your spare! Replace it if it’s old.

Gary “242″ North