Tips For Installing Vinyl FlooringWritten by Lee Dobbins
Installing an new floor can spice up a tired room and you can even save some money by installing it yourself. Of course, if you are not handy and have never done any type of installation, you may want to leave it to a professional as installing flooring incorrectly can ruin whole look!If you do try to attempt installing vinyl flooring yourself, here’s some tips that might help your installation look like it was done by a pro: 1) Take time to do appropriate prep work. With vinyl flooring, it is vital that subfloor underneath is free from debris and also has no divets or holes. Both of these can cause holes in vinyl floor over time. Make sure you remove anything that sticks up, fill in anything that is indented and clean floor thoroughly before starting install. 2) Remove as much stuff as you can. Remove all furniture and any appliances that you can. Take out moldings – this will make edges of flooring look much better when you put them back on after install. Be careful when putting appliances back in since dragging across vinyl can rip your newly installed floor!
| | Here There Be Dragons – The Symbolism Of Dragon Lore In Western HistoryWritten by Faith Harper
The first appearance of dragons in Western mythology was Norse “worm,” a large scaled creature that was able to breathe fire and regenerate itself if vivisected. It didn’t have arms, legs, or wings of later dragon stories, but was often pictured as an enormous snake. Because these multihued dragons were often seen streaking across sky, many of these worm dragons sightings have been attributed to natural ball lightening phenomena that occurs during some thunderstorms.
In Bible, serpent is creature most often used to symbolize evil, so it makes sense that these early serpent-like dragons were incorporated into legends of early Christianity. Dragon lore became parables of triumph of Christianity over Paganism in early church lore.
One of most famous stories of St. Peter (although story originates in 12th century, long after his death) was that of him slaying a dragon. Legend has it, that during Peter’s travels in Libya, a terrible dragon was terrorizing a small village, which had offered up a princess to appease beast. St. Peter fought dragon and saved princess from her fate. During battle, Peter was able to take respite under an enchanted orange tree that dragon’s poison could not touch. The orange tree in story is also very symbolically similar to Tree Of Life lore from pagan tradition and Garden of Eden lore from early bible.
Many other legends of saints include slaying of dragons. St. Sampson (the Archbishop Of Dol) is told to have led a dragon out of his cave and over a cliff to his death. St. Philip is credited with slaying of a dragon in Hierapolis in Phygia. St. Martha fell a dragon known as Tarasque at Aix, while St. Romain performed same feat with dragon known as La Gargouille.
St. Florent, St. Cado, St. Paul, St. Keyne, St. Michael, St. George, St. Clement, St. Margaret, Pope Sylvester, and St. Serf have all been documented as having slain dragons. Two gentler legends find saints Petroc and Carantoc leading dragons off to unpopulated areas, assuring safety of villages these dragons had originally overtook.
Dragons are replete in other early Western literature. Spencer’s epic poem, The Faerie Queen, features a dragon slain by Redcrosse knight. Scholars believe that dragon in this story has a two-fold symbolism. Besides representing Satan himself (in form of dragon-like beast from Revelations), as well as corruption of Catholic church as seen from point of view of a 16th century Protestant.
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