Old vines, old barns, old tractors and old tools; they were designed with common sense and they still do what they were made for. Of course, there is always a place for a new way that supports the concepts that made the old ways timeless. But they must pass ‘the common sense test’ before throwing out or amending the proven. The old ways became timeless because they proved themselves over the long haul.
My father collected rainfall data every day in a manual gauge for over 40 years, dutifully walking out to the stake it was mounted on, reading the level and dumping and recording it on the calendar. In recent years, a remote thermometer in the shade and an electronic rain gauge on the roof of the house was added. After his passing, we have relied upon the electronic device as it stores the readings for many days and my mom can record rainfall without venturing across uneven ground to the old manual gauge: a transition that makes sense.
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