Simple Living in a Complex Society

Choosing a simple life vs. advertising.

2011-08-03T07:21:00.000-04:00

I was reading this blog this morning, and found myself thinking about the simple life I choose.

Deep in the comments section of that blog above, I found people questioning why they might feel marginalized by the consumerist society at large.

Well, I have the answer and it isn't pretty. Advertisers and merchandisers and producers will do everything, ethical or not so ethical, to marginalize those who chose a different path from the one they want.

Examples:

1. Microsoft vs. Apple advertisements. Apple makes Microsoft users out to be nerdy geeks, while the Apple user is cool, hip, and "normal". This kind of advertising makes for a desire to belong in the "in" crowd.

2. Sex sells. Always. Advertisers will figure out ways to sell the most un-sexy stuff with sexy advertising. Why? Because it works. Just the inference that if I use product X, I'll get more sex, makes that product somehow better. Don't believe me? Ask yourself why advertisers use airbrushed photos of women in magazine advertisements.

3. Why are basic society mores devalued by advertisers? Because if everyone pulled their heads out of the advertising for too long, their products wouldn't sell. Good, just, people who choose to spend time with friends and loved ones, aren't out shopping, watching movies, consuming music, or surfing the internet and seeing all the other advertising that they have paid for.

I'll stop here. Piling on too much is not good.

Until next time,
Live simply that other's may live.

May the 4th be with you!

2011-05-04T19:19:00.000-04:00

A small homage to George Lucas.

Voluntary Simplicity is the way to go. Sometimes it is difficult hearing folks at work talk about the TV shows they watch, but then I start to tell them what I got accomplished instead of watching TV. And suddenly, it isn't so difficult anymore.

When I choose my simple lifestyle, I have my small group of things I like to do, and they are done with mindfulness and joy. And I don't have to feel that I'm deprived, because my life is wrapped up in my family.

Freecycling Plants

2011-04-28T09:50:00.000-04:00

If you haven't tried your local Freecycling group, I wholly recommended it!

This week I gave away periwinkle, strawberry plants, asters, sun-chokes, lots of chocolate mint, creeping euonamous, black-eyed-susans and ornamental grass.

I put the post on Freecycle, and had about 20 people interested. With the bounty of my gardens I had plenty to give away for everyone who could come by to get it. I met lots of interesting people, all eager to have free plants. These are plants that have multiplied so much they were taking over paths, and trying to escape enclosures. Giving them away gave Mary and I lots of "plant Karma". Hopefully they grow well for the people that received them.

Some of the Freecyclers were very impressed with our gardens, and wanted to know more about what we are doing. Mary suggested having a gathering of people who are interested and giving a more in-depth tour. So we are setting that up too.

Looking forward to sharing more knowledge of what can be done!

It's been a while.

2011-03-21T08:12:00.003-04:00

Yep, I've decided to restart the blog. Not sure it will go anywhere, or if anyone will care want to read about my simple life.

I'm still gardening, with amazing results. Some of the trees gave amazing fruits last year, while others didn't. Stink bugs came and feasted, but left us plenty. Harlequin Beetles ate the kale, mustard, collards and horseradish down to the ground.

I harvested 22 butternut squash... I won't plant quite so many of them this year... maybe 2 plants?

The beans didn't do so well, because of the intense heat of the summer, but the fall brought some good ones.

The old shed finally gave up the ghost... I spent most of last week dealing with the wreckage, cutting it up, hauling it off (Thanks Bill!) and sealing the well-built wood deck that was the floor.

The old deck makes a wonderful platform for my 2 top-bar bee hives.

About the bee hives. Two winters ago saw both hives die. I didn't have a go at the hives last summer. So this winter, I built a couple of feeders, and will try again this summer. I missed having bees in the garden!

Anyway, I don't know if it will be daily or a bit more sporadically that I get posts in, but I'll try to keep it going!

spoons

2009-02-17T17:10:00.002-05:00

Wooden Spoons, that is.

I've carved several, and I'm getting pretty good at it. Also got lost in facebook. Way too much fun there.

I've been keeping it simple and really just enjoying life.

I spent last weekend taking care of sick family and getting a few garden beds weeded and ready for planting. Did you know that if periwinkle gets away from you it can take over an entire bed in a single summer? I didn't know that. I'll pay much closer attention to it this summer!

Simplicity for Simplicity's Sake

2008-11-23T19:40:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking often about my simple life. Some would say that my life isn't simple at all. But I think it is.

I refrain from watching TV, which gives me enormous flexibility in my time.

I cook my own low-fat, plant-based vegetarian meals. Some would say that is way too complicated, but like all things practice makes it easy.

I enjoy working in the garden. There is always something to do. This weekend, I've been mulching leaves that I scavenged from the neighbors leaf raking efforts. They so nicely bag them up, and then I come along and grab up the bags full, and take them home, and run them under my mulching mower. I then spread them over my garden beds about 2 to 4 inches deep. Not hard work, but it does fill the day.

I enjoy exercising with Mary. Our afternoon walks are a joy, even when the weather turns colder. We have a "hand holding" glove specially made so that we can hold hands inside it. Simple joy there.

Other simple joys.
A fire in the fireplace in the autumn chill.

A hot cup of tea to warm me on the inside.

Hot banana bread, fresh from the oven.

Warm waffles with pecans and real maple syrup.

Minestrone soup with home-grown Swiss chard.

A clean kitchen with counters clear so that I can easily cook.

Looking in my love's eyes, and enjoying her smile, a mirror of my own.

Keep it Simple, Silly!

Dinner!

2008-10-27T17:37:00.003-04:00

'Shrooms!

I took about a dozen shiitake mushrooms off the log in the kitchen this afternoon, and cut them into thin strips. I then went outside and cut a huge handful of purple basil. Then I peeled lots of garlic cloves.

I wound up with a wonderful mushroom centered meal. I'm serving the concoction over bow-tie noodles and I'm having trouble waiting for Mary to get home. The house smells absolutely wonderful!

I think I've already got my $$$ worth out of the purchase of the spawn for the mushrooms. Wow. If I had to buy all those mushrooms at retail prices, I think it would break me.

It's a shame there isn't anything for vegetarians to eat! (light sarcasm)

Anyhow, enjoy your dinner...

More 'Shrooms!

2008-10-21T18:16:00.002-04:00

That log I brought inside over the weekend has decided to fruit! There are mushroom buds coming out in many different places on the log. I have a large clear lawn-and-garden bag draped over the log to provide additional moisture retention. It seems to be working.

I showed Samuel the mushroom buttons coming out and he seemed excited. Miriam was not thrilled, or at least she didn't seem so.

I'm very excited that we'll have fresh 'shrooms for our dinner this week. And if we have too many, I'll dry what we can't use right away. I'll have to let the log rest for a couple of months, then I'll see if I can get it to fruit again.

Not bad for waiting a year to let the fungus grow in the log!Lentinula edodes: Shiitake

I plugged them last year with Lentinula edodes spawn. That's the Latin name for Shiitake mushrooms.

Here is a picture I found on the net that shows what a fruiting log looks like!

Now I lay me down...

2008-10-19T16:42:00.002-04:00

To sleep, perchance to dream.

It is autumn now. It wasn't really obvious here until this week. The tulip poplar trees are now turning yellow, and some leaves are falling. The temps have dropped, and the house is cooling down. I've started making lots of soups, chillies, and other dishes that warm you up from the inside.

I've begun to put the gardens to bed. I've pulled the tomato plants and made some changes to the outside.

We had our first shitake mushrooms last week. Mary suggested that I bring one of the logs inside. So I found a large plastic pan (used for concrete mixing) and took a large piece of flat pine and made a stand to hold up the log. The shitake log is now in our family room next to the orchids, so that I can keep an eye on it, if it decides to send out 'shrooms. I'll keep it watered and such to make it really good for the mushrooms. Hopefully we'll get some through the winter. I have 3 other logs outside, and I'll let them do their thing there. Miriam came in while I was getting dinner ready and said, "We have a stump." I told her what it was, and she just shrugged and went back to her room. I guess she thinks her step-father is crazy.

Flannel sheets are on the bed, and Mary and I have gone back to closing all the windows and curtains at night to hold in as much heat as we can.

So the garden goes to sleep, and the trees get ready for their winter's nap. And I have already ordered seeds for spring...

Bowed Psaltery

2008-08-27T14:56:00.003-04:00

After wanting one for 3 years...
Wait, let me start at the beginning of this story. It is short, but makes more sense this way. (Clicking the image will increase the size.)

I live in Maryland. We have one of the best Renaissance Festivals around. Anyway, three years ago, my wife and I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival and enjoyed ourselves very much. It was a wonderful day, and we saw many shows, and heard lots of music we liked.

As Mary and I were walking along, there was one stand where a young lady was playing an instrument that I had never seen, nor heard before. She was pushing a small bow across the metal strings, and it was making a fantastic sound. Very simple, and very pleasing. She let me try it. I was able to rough out a tune in just a couple of minutes. I was hooked. But the price tag at that time was more than my family budget could afford. So I passed.

I went back to the festival last year and heard the instrument again. Again I wanted one, but didn't get it. I wasn't sure that I would actually make time to teach myself to play it.

This year, we went to the festival on opening day, and I decided I wanted that instrument. I discussed the purchase briefly with Mary and she was supportive in this purchase, because I think she wanted to play it too. When we arrived at Unicorn Strings, we played a couple and chose the one pictured above.
So I bought it, with a soft padded case, and two bows (for advanced playing.) It came with a book, extra strings, rosin and a demonstration DVD.

I've been spending some time learning to play some simple tunes on it. I've been having a ball. I love the sounds it makes, and the way the strings resonate when they are played. Very rich sound.

I'm having a bit of a challenge with the music theory, and am teaching myself again how to read music. It is a C instrument. It has 2 1/2 octaves, and has the beautiful wood work on it. I've been looking on the internet for sheet music to old tunes, and figuring out how to make them work on the Psaltery.

How does this purchase fall into the frugal and sustainable areas of my life's philosophy? First the frugal. I've put off the purchase for 3 years. It isn't a survival item, but it does help pass the time, and also allows me to make my own beautiful sounds (I can't sing that well) when I want to. As for the sustainable aspects... I'm helping keep alive a sound from the Elizabethan and earlier times, as well as supporting the artists, woodworkers, and musicians who built the instrument.

APLS Carnival

2008-08-16T17:44:00.002-04:00

I took part in this little exercise of definition. It's called a carnival. And APLS sounds so much better than leaf-lickin' tree-hugger!

So link on over and read a bunch of great posts on what others are doing to achieve sustainability and a simpler lifestyle.

Home Made Foods

2008-08-14T19:02:00.004-04:00

I guess I'm a bit strange. I have a whole foods, plant based diet. I only rarely eat out. I don't eat meat, or dairy. I cook. I clean, and yes, I do laundry, but I don't like to. Anyway, I am one of those males in America that doesn't show up on the media radar, because I like to do so much stuff that would traditionally be called "women's work". I know, housekeeping and cooking and such really is everyone's work, but I didn't make this up, I only know that I have been labeled "Martha Stewart" and my own wife said I would make a good Mormon wife to someone. But I'm not Mormon... but I digress. You get the idea. I like to do things that are commonly thought of as "keeping house." And one of those things is making muffins and cookies.

Last night we had some guests over and I honored them with my Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Pecan Muffins. These are made with no added oil, and only as much fat as the chocolate chunks and the pecans have. And they are so good, everyone is always surprised to hear that they are vegan.

Anyway, since I made the muffins last night, and they were devoured for desserts and snacks and even breakfast this morning, I decided to make Apple Spice with pecan muffins for dessert tonight. And now the whole house smells like cinnamon and apples.

Oh, and did I mention that I ground the flour for the muffins too?

Sometimes eating good food is a BIG part of that simple life that I'm creating for myself and my family. I think we live a slower paced life than the "rat race" that so many of my coworkers aspire to.

Basic Muffin recipe:

4 cups whole wheat flour (any kind works, I grind mine into pastry-four fineness.)
1 cup rolled oats (quick cook or long cook, doesn't matter)
1/2 to 1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you like your muffins
2 Table spoons baking powder
5 Table spoons ground flax seed
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup natural apple sauce (can be home made if you want)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

And to make Chocolate Chocolate Chunk:
Add to basic Muffin recipe above:
5 Table spoons cocoa
1 cup chocolate chunks
1 cup pecans (halves, pieces or ground fine. Optional) You can use any nut you like if you don't have pecans. This is a very forgiving recipe.

Heat oven to 400F.
I use silicone non-stick muffin pans, but if you use metal ones, you will need to grease them somehow. I'll leave that to you.

Combine the dry basic muffin ingredients in the mixer bowl, mix all dry ingredients so they are well mixed. Add wet ingredients, then add enough water just so the batter is wet through, and still thick, but not so thick as bread dough would be. The consistency needs to be loose enough to spoon easily into those muffin pans.

Spoon into muffin pans (this makes 24 muffins!)

Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes, then test to see if it is done with a wooden toothpick.

If you want Apple Cinnamon muffins,
add to the basic muffin recipe
1 chopped apple finely chopped
1 cup pecans (halves, pieces or ground fine. Optional) You can use any nut you like if you don't have pecans. This is a very forgiving recipe.
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Prepare as above muffins

You can try other kinds of fruits - Banana and Nut is good
Pumpkin and spice
And blueberry.
Add or remove spices as you want, until it sounds like it would be good for you.

Good luck.

APLS Carnival

2008-08-11T19:18:00.001-04:00

Sustainable Living in my life takes on several forms. I've been on this path for many years now, and each time I get on my bike, turn on a light that has a CFL bulb, eat home grown vegetables or water my plants with water I've harvested from the roof, or flush the toilet with saved shower water, I'm putting into practice my version of sustainable living.

Is it enough? Probably not. Can I do more? Yes. Do I need to do more.... maybe. Will I do more? Eventually.

I wrote up and published a list of "small steps" in my church's newsletter a couple of years ago. It came to 23 different habits or behaviors that could be done to reduce use of resources.

I came to many of those small steps in my pursuit of frugality. Each step seemed to lead to a fork in the road. Taking the path of frugality lead me toward other more sustatinable steps, and so on.

My giving up red meat lead to eventually giving up meat all together. Which lead to eliminating dairy and eggs from my diet. Results - Savings at the grocery store, and less weight on James. Also lower cholesterol, less sinus problems, and reduced seasonal allergies. Also saving the world from having to raise the meat that I would have eaten. Again, each step along the way was small, but had BIG affects on me.

My choosing to build rain barrels wasn't frugal, since it cost money, but turned out saving my family huge amounts of money on water bills during my state's drought last year. Being able to water the vegetables with saved rain water greatly reduced our need for tap water. Same with saving our shower water to flush the toilets. It is a small thing, but adds up to large savings. Imagine if everyone used the water in their house twice before running it down the toilet. How much would that save? Boggles the mind how a small step like that can make such a difference when magnified by thousands, millions, even billions.

Gardening. Ok, so I like to grow things. Handed down from my grandmother honestly. Green thumb and all. Sure it is work, but the rewards are many. I get to be outside. I eat fresh food, sometimes right off the plant! I don't have to mow grass endlessly every week, wasting fuel and breathing fumes, and get to use my labor to take care of things that are beautiful and can be sustain my family too.
The small steps lead me to getting rid of all of the grass in my 1/4 acre lot, and building new top soil where before was depleted clay. I forgot to mention the mental rest and relaxation I get from walking around my garden, and enjoying the naturalness of it? That is my quiet contemplation/meditation right there.

Taking a frugal approach to laundry encouraged me to get a clothesline, and a couple of portable indoor racks to dry clothes on rainy days. Saved bunches of money on drying things, our clothes last longer, and it doesn't take much time at all. Added benefit is that solar clothes drying is carbon negative!

Many of these small steps lead to other things. Some I can't do at the house I'm in, because it would be too expensive to put in a brand new gray water system to water trees. But we are planning on "greening" our next house extensively.

I quit watching TV. Ok, so I watch Le Tour de France and other bike races during the year, but I watch very little TV. I find that I can still live my life without the "boob tube" parading endless consumables to entice me into buying things that I don't really need. I enjoy how much better my life seems, now that I don't care what people are trying to sell me, nor do I care what is "trendy" what the best new gadget is, and what the flavor of the day is at the burger joint down the street. Heck, I don't even know what movies are going to play next week anymore. I get that kind of information from friends and family, who always make sure that I see the movies that are good, and skip the rest. And you know what, I haven't felt like I've missed anything either.

Sustainable living also means making choices about our level of living. How much is enough? What makes you happy? I don't mean the temporary thrill you might get from making a purchase, or that feeling you get from externals. I'm talking about inside. What makes you really happy? I'm sure it isn't driving a big gas guzzling car that will take 5 years to pay off, or living in a house that you can't afford to buy in 30 years. Or watching an entire season of some TV series. But I have found that hosting guests at the house, having a community around me, and also enjoying the people and relationships that are important to me bring me much more happiness than any material goods could ever do. And as a fellow blogger from Australia mentions, taking pride in the small tasks that need to get done gives a sense of accomplishment and self-worth. Even if I'm the only one who recognizes that the job was done.

Sustainability can be done. It is easiest done in small changes, working toward a goal. When shopping for a new appliance, get the one that is the best on energy use, and that you can afford. When buying new clothing, get what you need, not what loads up your closet. So what if you only have 5 days worth of clothes to wear, and people notice that you wear clothes until they, OH HORROR, wear out! Just smile and tell them that it doesn't make sense to throw out perfectly good clothing. Heck, I have some pairs of jeans that have made it into my "gardening and berry picking only" stack. They have too many stains to wear out in public, but work fine as "chore clothes."

Small steps. Small changes, lead to huge differences over time. But you won't see any differences if you close your eyes and wish to make it happen. It takes making a decision to be less of an impact than you were before. Today. Worry about tomorrow then.

Canning - First try!

2008-07-27T21:02:00.006-04:00

So I got a canner. Mary had long ago acquired many canning jars that have been resting comfortably in the crawlspace under the house. But now that the garden is in, and the Farmer's Markets are full of beautiful produce, it is time to start preserving some of this local bounty.

So I got a canner. And I had to learn how to use it. I figured it couldn't be all that difficult, just takes some time, right? Right. Lots of time. But I think, like most things, when I get the hang of it, it will take less and less effort to make things happen.

Here is a picture of what I was doing today. (Click on the picture for a larger image)

The first 3 jars are green and wax beans from my garden, picked just before they were canned. The next five jars are corn, then there are 10 jars of blackberry jam, and 7 quart jars of dill pickles. Not bad for the first day's canning. It wasn't too difficult, and I made several trips to the internet to look up recipes and procedures. Here is my favorite canning/preserving website.

Thank you Mary for helping to pick the wild blackberries to go into the jam!

And how does doing my own canning lead to a simple life? It might not, if it isn't something you are passionate about doing. But for me, sustaining my family with healthful, local food is important. And choosing to do things that might at first be a bit more challenging, but less so as you get into the groove actually does make my life much more simple.

Berry Pickin'

2008-07-25T22:07:00.002-04:00

While Mary and I were eating dinner, she asked if I would go for a walk with her after. She went on to say that we could go to the berry patch and pick some during our walk. I love her so much! We garbed ourselves in long pants and long sleeve shirts and big hats and went out a-pickin'! All told we hauled in about 96 ounces of berries in a little over an hour.

We have several spots where we pick berries, and we just about cleaned out the place we went this evening. At least until the new ones ripen up.

We came home and added them to our freezer stash.

We went to our local grocery store, and bought pectin so that we can make up some blackberry jam. Since you can easily make jam from frozen berries, this won't be a problem.

Oh, and my pressure canner arrived today! Combined with Mary's large stash of mason jars stored up under the house, we are just about set to preserve lots of food for the winter time!
And the Farmer's Market is tomorrow morning. And Sunday afternoon, if we want to drive all the way over to the mall.

Garden Plenty

2008-07-23T18:55:00.003-04:00

I work full time. That is 40 hours per week. 8 hours per day. And I still find time to garden.

I came home from work today, and checked my front yard squash plants. I got 7 good sized summer squashes. (I missed one of the yellow squashes and it grew to about 18 inches long, and 6 inches around. It was too tough to eat, but the worms will like it!)
I went around to the side yard, and harvested a half-basket of beans. Then thought that some steamed Swiss Chard would be good with dinner too, so picked several leaves of it.

I came in the house and cleaned the food, prepared it and had it ready for when my dear Mary got home from visiting a friend. She brought 2 loaves of bread home with her, and we had that with the rest of the veggies.

Oh, and I had chilled beets from the farmer's market as well as sliced cucumbers in vinegar with home grown shallots.

Life is grand when you can eat what you grow yourself.

My garden doesn't provide enough to feed us all year long, but it surely provides lots to eat, and inexpensively also.

My garden is such, that once it gets going, there is very little need for hard work. In fact the hardest thing I did today was pull a few little clumps of crab-grass from a path. It is easier to pull after it gets big enough to notice. :)

Where do I find the time? Well, I don't watch TV much at all, and really enjoy the whole frugal, sustainable thing. It is easy to do, if you only take small steps toward your goal.

Berry Picking

2008-07-21T21:42:00.004-04:00

I spent about 2 hours this evening picking berries. Blackberries.

Now let me paint the picture for you. I'm home alone, since Mary is visiting her sister. I have nothing to keep me inside. I dress in long pants and long sleeve shirt, preparing for the thorns and possible poison ivy to come.

The temperature outside was about 97 this evening. I drank lots of water, and put on my cowboy hat to keep the ticks off my head.

I slowly walked about a mile away from the house, over to the grounds of the college where the berry patches are. I enjoyed the silence. But reflecting on it, it wasn't silence. It was a flurry of sounds. Birds, insects, breeze rustling leaves. Frogs in the distance. A car going down the highway. An aircraft on final approach to BWI. All of this I took in, as my attention was drawn to those little and big wild blackberries. What a relaxing way to spend a couple of hours. Oh, and I must have eaten about 2 cups of the berries right off the brambles.

By the way, you have to focus on the berries, as well as keep the very prickery brambles from tearing into your skin as you pluck that juicy berry. My index finger and thumb are still purple from the juices of the over ripe berries. Those are the ones I ate, because they wouldn't have traveled well anyway.

I finished picking the ones I could get to and returned home to the garden. I harvested a zucchini from the plant in the front yard down near the road, and then walked around the house. I nibbled a couple of ripe blueberries from the bushes, and noticed that there are some strawberries ready too. I'll get them tomorrow. I continued to walk around, just enjoying what I see. Tomatoes that are coming on, Swiss chard ready to pick. Salad greens for lots of salad.
What's this? A few beans peaking out from under their leaves. So I went inside and got a basket to catch the few beans. I went around behind the trellis and my jaw dropped at the sight! There were bunches and bunches of beans back there. I could have sworn they weren't there yesterday! Anyway, I set about picking beans, and by the time I was done, there was a whole basket full. I brought it inside to the kitchen, washed, snapped, blanched and froze about a gallon of beans. I kept some aside for tomorrow evenings celebratory meal. Mary returns!

What I notice about this simple life that I've chosen, is that I have time to notice things. I have time to be with people I love. I have time to be with myself, without feeling rushed, or harried or stressed-out. This simple life isn't for everyone, but for me it works extremely well.

Gardens and Ticks

2008-07-20T15:34:00.002-04:00

Yes, that's right. Ticks. I guess I had a DEER TICK sometime last week, because when Mary was giving me my haircut, she found a bulls eye rash on my scalp. I went to the Med folks and they gave me a 14 day course of antibiotics to hopefully kill off any Lyme bugs that are trying to take over my systems.

But other than that the garden is doing fantastically well. I have all the salad greens I could want. Fresh strawberries, green beans and swiss chard coming in. The blueberries are coming, but not too many this year. Hopefully more next year. I've planted kale again, so when the fall comes, we'll have greens then too.

I've been to the farmer's market and bought beets, watermelons, other melons and sweet corn. Lots of sweet corn. I froze 10 20 oz tubbies, then transferred the frozen corn to large zip bags. That is easier to store, and I get my tubbies back too.

The freezer is getting full, so... Mary and I are going to be "putting up" more food for the winter, and toward that goal, I've purchased a pressure cooker, and a pressure canner. I'll get the canning process down, and keep things going in small batches, as the farmers and I have produce to spare.

This weekend, I've been eating corn on the cob, fresh steamed beets, and okra and tomatoes. Wow. The food tastes so fresh and good. And is so filling.

Tie Dye!

2008-06-15T14:38:00.004-04:00

Mary, Tori and I had a great time Saturday tying clothes up to dye. Let me digress a bit.

I bought a few white shirts at Berea Christmas Country Dance School last year. I thought it would be fun to tie dye them. But it took a while to get all of the things together to do it. Namely lots of fun things to tie dye.
Tori also thought this was a great idea, and created a skirt and 2 pairs of really wild pants. Mary thought Tori's pants were so great that she decided to make a pair for herself. Tori and Mary had a great time last week creating patterns and sewing up the clothes.

So Saturday finally arrived, and the fateful tie dying was to take place. We went at it like most people would, fully engaged, and just enough knowledge to be dangerous! We checked out a few YouTube entries on various tie dye folds, and techniques, and then went to it!

Here are the results drying on the line today. (Click the picture for a LARGER view)

Of note to anyone who wants to do tie dyes - It takes longer than you might think. Set aside plenty of time to do the tying, the dying, and the 8 to 12 hour rest period, then time to rinse out the dyes, and then washing and hanging out the finished project.

It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure you will all see these various clothes around on Tori, Mary and myself.

Bees! In the Top Bar Hives!

2008-05-06T19:08:00.008-04:00

I got my BEES!

Mary posted a little bit on her blog, but I want to put some on mine too. I'm quite psyched up about the whole process.

I drove down to overnight with my parents, which conveniently are about halfway to the beekeeper Don in Lula Georgia who keeps Small Cell (SC) bees. SC bees are kept organically, in that they are bred to resist mites and diseases. Also no chemicals are used on the bees like some commercial beekeepers use. The thinking here is that if the strong bees are bred, then you will wind up with stronger strains of bees, the weaker ones having succumbed to disease and such. Also the SC bees are quicker to emerge from their cells, and thus interrupt the varroa mite's reproduction cycle. Fewer mites reproduce, fewer mites to bother my bees.

I contacted Don last year in order to get on the waiting list for the bees. He does a good business, but is at the mercy of the bees, and Georgia is in that drought which makes the bees a bit slow to reproduce. Anyway, long story short, I was able to travel to get the bees.
I arrived at midday, completely surprising Don, because he doesn't check email very often. I had contacted him earlier in the week to remind him I was coming, and he confirmed. I also emailed that morning, but he hadn't logged on.
After introducing ourselves, I was shown around his apiary, and wow, did he have a lot of hives. We were walking around without any protective gear, and the bees completely ignored us. I had the occasional bee bounce off of me, but that was because I was between her and her hive. She just bounced off me, then flew around me to her home.
Don then collected up a couple of package boxes, the shaker funnel, and the scale. Don is extremely good a judging how many pounds of bees are in a box, just by looking. I guess for someone who has been doing this for 50+ years, that gets to be easy! Anyway, we opened hives, and caught 2 queens, and put them in queen cages, then opened other hives and pulled out honey frames, and shook new bees into the package boxes. It was amazing, I had on my veil, but Don didn't even worry about it. I didn't have on gloves, and had bees on my hands, but no stings. Don's SC bees are extremely good natured, and rarely sting.

At one point Don pulled up a capped honey frame, and invited me to taste pure organic honey. I poked my finger into the honeycomb and popped my honey covered finger into my mouth. The honey tasted fantastic! The bees would soon fix any damage I had done to the honeycomb after Don put the frame back in the hive.

Here is a picture of one of the package boxes sitting on my hive. (click pictures for a larger view)

It didn't take long to get them in the top bar hive. You can see that I am working the bees with no gloves on, and still no stings. For those that don't know, 2 pounds of bees is about 2500 bees.

This is me with the smoker. I smoked the bees a little for the first package, but didn't smoke the second package, just to see how docile these bees were. They were a little more agitated than the un-smoked bees, but still gentle.

And here is me holding the queen cage that has a ball of bees on it. I shook the bees off, so that I could open the little cork on the queen candy side, so the bees will eventually free her.

This last picture is after I've shaken the rest of the bees into the hive, and put on the top bars.

I put the lid on after that. Also inside each hive, I put a gallon zip baggie full of about 3 quarts of sugar syrup to feed the bees until they get going on their own. I poked some small holes so the bees could suck out the fluid. I'll get into the hives next week, and remove the empty bags, and check out the hives and see what the girls have been up to. Hopefully by that time, the queens will be out of their cages, and I can remove them.

I've been caught by my kids and wife, outside watching the comings and goings of these silly bees. My dear wife Mary jokes with me, "What do those crazy neighbors do on Sunday afternoons? Sit outside and watch the bees fly around." Well, I can't think of much that is as calming and soothing as watching those girls do their thing.

Mary was so fascinated by the bees that she wanted to look into the hive to see what they have done. She told me that I need to build another hive, and this one should have an observation window that we can open and see what is going on in there. I agree. But I'll put 2 windows, so that when we remove the shutters we can see through the hive and watch what is going on.

Spring Meditations

2008-04-24T17:14:00.002-04:00

Plant husbandry is easy for me. Taking care of the plants with a little water here, and a pluck of an unwanted tree seed there, and perhaps pulling the mulch back a bit so that the sun can get to the seedling a little better.
Just walking around my little gardens, and seeing how well everything seems to be growing. Amazing! Asparagus popping up, even though the plants are still smaller than a pencil around, so not big enough to eat... yet! Blueberry flowers, almost covered with bees. Seedlings popping up in holes all around. Flowers blooming. Squatting down next to the pond to watch the frogs sitting peacefully on the other side. Noticing the ripple of the water, and the sun reflecting from the edges of the ripple. 40-11 tomato volunteers trying to come up. Onions and shallots growing quickly. Some of the kale has gone to little yellow flowers that the bees are on also. Free seeds soon. Warm air gently drifting, making the bright green leaves on the trees dance merrily.

All of these things I notice, while letting my mind absorb them, and heal me from whatever stress or fatigue I have accumulated during the day.

Spring. Meditate. Enjoy life. Life is good. Spring life is good, because it reveals all of the sleeping wonder that winter's grip has hidden from view.

Spring Planting...

2008-04-21T19:55:00.003-04:00

The last couple of weeks have seen a rush of planting in the garden. I've got the perennials up and blooming, and it looks like we are going to have lots of food.

I've been planting things all over the place, and of course have lost track of some of the things I've planted. Luckily for me, all of them are edibles, and I'll figure them out when they come up. I do know that there will be lots of tomatoes, since I've got quite a few volunteers by the spot where they were growing last year. Plus, I've planted out 3 seedlings, also.

Mary and I stopped in at the nursery a week ago, and got collards, brussels sprouts, lettuce, and several kinds of basil. I got 2 Pak-choy plants too. I sometimes wonder where I'm going to put all of these plants, but I always seem to find a spot for another plant. It will get easier in the front, when the daffodils greens die back, but that won't be for a month or 2 yet. In the mean time, I'm so enjoying all of the spring growth!

Soon, I'll be out planting squash seeds around the neighborhood in abandoned land. Might as well have some food from that too. I may do cucumbers like that too. Depends on the sun in the area I'm planting. I also might sneak over to the community college and plant some things in the unmown sunny spots. All that grass, just itching to have some squash growing with it.

Have you heard of seizuretracker.com?

2008-03-30T16:59:00.002-04:00

Here is the link to seizuretracker.com

I must have asked this question about 100 times yesterday during the 2nd annual National Walk for Epilepsy.

You see, my brother-in-law created the website, after his son had over 300 seizures in one month. The paper log was crammed full, and it proved inadequate for the task. He searched online for a website that would allow him to track Evan's seizures, but the sites were either too difficult to use, or worse. So, he set out on a mission. He created seizuretracker.com, sponsored it, and worked for the past 6 or 8 months getting going.

Anyway, at the Epilepsy walk yesterday, Rob and Lisa had t-shirts printed up with the seizuretracker.com logo, and pamphlets also. So wearing the t-shirt and asking if people had heard of the site was what Mary and I did as we walked. We both talked to so many people, and most loved idea of the website. Some people just wanted to talk, so as that went on, we drifted back through the walk. Mary and I ran ahead to get to another bunch of folks that we hadn't talked with yet.

My starting question was always, "Have you heard of seizuretracker.com?" And when they hadn't, I explained what it was, as I handed them the pamphlet. I then went into the back story of, "My nephew had over 300 seizures in one month, and my brother-in-law built the site to handle that large number. After he had it designed the way he thought it should be, easy to use, graphs for seizures, medications, and time, he put it online in a beta-version so that his wife could use it. Well, it got some critiques, and got better. Then it went live, and users had ideas for him to improve it. What came of all of that was a very easy to use, practical web-site that will let you log your seizures and medications, then email the information to your doctor. Oh, and graph everything for a easy picture to see if medications are having an effect. " That was what I started with. After all of that, most folks were eager to give it a try. Oh, and did I mention that it was FREE!? No charge, no advertising, just use it if you want to.

The Walk was pretty chilly, but the cherry blossoms were open, and lots of people were getting set up to fly kites on the mall.

seizuretracker.com

Almost 4000 US dead in War on Terror...

2008-03-22T14:18:00.002-04:00

And for 2006... National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 43,443 people were killed on the highways.

What are we fighting a war for, if we can't even protect innocent men, women, AND CHILDREN on our homeland's highways?

I'm thinking that our billions and billions (ala Carl Sagan) of taxpayer dollars could have been much better spent if we had actually concentrated on reducing the death rate on our own highways.

Oh, and how about education?
Clean water?
Cancer research?
Science research?
Curbing gang violence in our own cities?
Drug rehabilitation programs?
Suicide prevention?
Crime prevention?

How many more innocent United States citizens have to die (on the roads, wars, schools, etc.) before we realize that violence is NOT the answer?

Garden Goings-on

2008-03-17T18:17:00.003-04:00

Well, it isn't spring yet... but tell that to the crocuses, the daffodils, and the forsythia!

Oh, and me. I have that spring fever thing going. I was out in the gardens for most of the weekend.

On Saturday, I pulled out all of the pachysandra that was growing on the driveway side of the sidewalk. A little patch that is "fenced in" by the handrail. I spent many hours pulling and transplanting the crocuses that were in the way, and a couple of hosta crowns that are just starting to point. I got it all pulled out, and found the holly bush stump about halfway up the little hill. I dug and chopped and pulled on it until it came loose. I'm saving it for garden art. I have it propped up along the sunny side of the house so that it can dry. It should last a long time in the sun!

After I had all the plants removed (and a few cantelope sized rocks) I brought 4 huge wheelbarrows full of compost from the back yard. This stuff has been sitting and cooking for over a year. And wow was it wonderful looking stuff! Earthworms just having a ball in it.
I spread the compost over the soil, and used my shovel to work it into the first 3 inches of soil or so.
At this point I noticed that this would be the perfect time to add to the cinder block wall. But I didn't have cinder blocks, and didn't want to go through mortaring them in, either. But I did have a lot of pieces of concrete rectangular stepping stones. So I wheeled them down from the pile, and after clearing the soil from the top of the old cinder block wall, proceeded to dry lay 5 courses of these on top of that low wall. They will only have to hold back about 10 inches of soil in that location, and I will make sure that I maintain it. I know it could slump if the soil gets too high. But I'm watching that closely. The wall turned out well, and looks pretty good! I love reusing something that I already have.

After I got the stones laid, I backfilled them a bit and then went to the garden center to get a bale of straw. I returned and then used the straw as my top mulch. I don't like leaving any soil bare for very long, since wind and water come along and steal my good earth. So keeping the soil covered is always a good idea. Besides, the earthworms like the insulation to keep on doing their thing!

That was enough for one day.

Sunday rolled around, and I did little chores after the rain stopped. I fixed our pea trellis (and planted peas later in the day.) I cut bamboo poles for the tomato trellis (where we planted peas too!) I also cut up some cardboard to make more worm bedding for my vermicompost bins.

Wow, looking back on it, that was good bit of stuff for one weekend. And I did it at my own pace, and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Handmade "Soil Block" maker

2008-03-10T19:48:00.005-04:00

I saw this on the Path to Freedom site and figured out how to make one out of scrap wood I had laying about the workshop. It took me about an hour to make the mold and plunger, and of course had to wait for the WATERPROOF glue to set up. Good clamps made this easy. I sanded it down to round off the edges. Really not difficult to make one.

It worked well, even though it will be making only one soil block at a time. Path to Freedom also has soil block makers for sale, here.

Anyway, I figured a bit of work, and I could be frugal, AND have my soil blocks too. So far I've made 2 trays full of soil blocks. I get 36 to the standard tray. I enjoy doing that and it is easy. So I think the house will soon be filled with seedling trays.

I also have 2 other seedling trays filled with little paper cups, and several little starts of swiss chard, tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil. I want to grow a whole lot more basil, so I'll be making more soil blocks. I'll be using them to start seeds during the whole growing season.

"Spring" planting

2008-03-02T17:08:00.003-05:00

I started planting the 2008 garden this afternoon.

Here in Maryland we are zone 6 now, and getting warm enough to work some plants in. I start with onions and shallots. I'll be planting garlics soon too. My order of onion sets came in this week. I planted roughly 360 onions and about 45 shallots. The onions were about 120 red, about 120 white and about 120 yellow onions. Hopefully they will grow well.

I was finishing up planting the last of the white onion sets, when Mary came out to go for our walk. I was working in the soil under our big cypress tree. The same soil that the bamboo had depleted. Mary said that at least we know how to build topsoil. She is hoping for lots of good food from our gardens this year.

I get this way every spring. Bursting at the seams to get the garden going, but still way in the danger of frost. So, I'll figure out a way to get some seeds started and get them ready. I think I may work up a cold frame here real soon. That would give me the sheltered gardening area that I need to get my seeds started.

I also discussed the fact that the hedges on the side of our front yard block out some of the afternoon light. I now have permission to make them much shorter hedges. So I'll take care of that one of these spring afternoons when Mary is working on her schoolwork.

Twins Turn 15

2008-03-02T14:34:00.002-05:00

Well. They did it. They are now 15. They had a bit of a party last night, and had some friends over. They both enjoyed the evening, and ate lots of pizza, and we sang them their birthday dirge, while bringing them their ice-cream cakes. Identical cakes, for non-identical twins. Hey, fair is fair, right? Miriam doesn't really like pink, so of course I got both cakes birthday wishes written with pink icing. Even Samuel's! So the birthday has come and gone. Now I have to look forward to driving lessons sometime between now and this time next year! Yeah! Happy Birthday Twins!

The plans for the garden are going well. I've received my onion and shallot sets, and will be putting them out soon. I think it is a bit too cold yet for the onions, but not much longer to wait.

Then I'll get the seedlings started in full swing and digging in dirt to plant things will start. And I think I'll need about a case of "sluggo" to fight off the slugs. I don't have ducks....

Quiet weekend at home

2008-02-25T18:19:00.003-05:00

The weekend started with an inclement weather day on Friday. Since I'm on overhead (between contracts) for the company right now, I figured it just wasn't worth risking my life on the icy roads to go sit and hold down a chair for 8 hours, just to be there. So I called in ICE. That was Friday. The kids were home as well, as school was canceled, and Mary stayed home, since she had only one class that was an hour long, and couldn't justify driving in for 2 - 2 1/2 hours each way for an hour class. So we all stayed home and had a good day together.

Saturday was lovely too. Not much going on. Just reading and such. I just finished the Dan Millman book "Everyday Enlightenment". Dan is the author of "The way of the Peaceful Warrior". Everyday Enlightenment was about how to get the most from life, and I enjoy reading "self help" books sometimes, just to see if I'm on anywhere near the right path. I am. I am on the path that works for me, and for my family. I think that I've got the ability to get to that enlightenment, in just a little while longer. Now, if I could just convince my sub-conscience of that...

Sunday was nice, and I built a fire to relax by. I did some gardening work - staking fruit trees, and a bit of cleaning up. I split some more kindling, and tossed some wood chips down where the old ones have broken down into soil. I put some reminder sticks up around the new daffodils that are trying to come up. I'm getting that spring fever, so it must be getting close to time to get my seedlings started indoors.

I have lots of good ideas for the gardens this year. And if I fill up my freezer, I'll give away the surplus.

Peace and harmony!

Psychopsis Orchid

2008-02-18T16:25:00.002-05:00

I finally got the picture of the psychopsis orchid to post. It is lasting a long time.

Really beautiful flower.

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins!

2008-02-18T15:35:00.004-05:00

Muffins.
Simple and frugal creations, able to be grabbed from the kitchen by the kids, my wife and me. All love them, and they come in individual serving size. I love the silicone baking pans that I've been using to bake them. The muffins come right out of the little cups, and they are much easier to clean than the old metal pans. (I use the metal pans to hold the silicone pans, and they insulate them perfectly, so that my muffin bottoms don't get scorched.) And with the silicone, they don't stick to the inside, so no oil is needed either.

Anyway, how wholesome is home-made, goodness? Better than "grandma" used to make? No, but great anyway. Home ground whole-wheat flour, rolled oats, a little bit of raw sugar, some baking powder, chocolate chunks, cocoa powder, dash of salt, ground flax seeds, apple sauce, vanilla, and some water to make it into a batter. Spoon into cups, bake for 28 minutes, and perfection! Yummy VEGAN, low-fat muffins that nobody would guess were vegan, or low fat. Absolutely delectable. Oh, and no added flavor enhancers!

I sometimes make these "dessert" muffins to take to pot-luck lunches. Mainly because so many people love chocolate, they always go over well.
I think I use about $2 worth of ingredients, and come out with 24 muffins. Can't beat the price of home made.

Simple Weekend

2008-02-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

Mary arrived home on Saturday night from Hawai'i. She was tired, so she had a bowl of soup, and sorted out her luggage and then we went to sleep early, so that she could get her biological clock reset.

Mary and I had lots of connecting time on Sunday, and she did manage to get some reading for school done in the afternoon. We got laundry done and also went for a walk in the beautiful day. The temperature was up to 50F but the wind was blowing in, so we bundled up a bit. I got dishes done, and messed around with the orchids, nothing really taxing.

I managed to get some reading done, and am almost done with a 7 book series. The catch... I have to wait for the final book to be published in July! Arrrrggghhhhh!!! Oh, well, it could be worse. I could have just started reading the first book in a series that has no end in sight...

Energy saving tip: Keep your cars tires inflated to the proper amount. Bonus tip: you'll save muscle energy if your bike's tires are inflated to their proper amount also!

I love you, I missed you, You were gone foreEVER!

2008-02-09T16:55:00.001-05:00

Mary's coming home this evening. I have about an hour to go. I checked the BWI arrivals, and it says that her flight is about 25 minutes early, so I have to go to the airport soon.

I'm a bit excited to have her back in Maryland. I know the saying is that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I don't think I can grow fonder of Mary. I just miss her terribly when she is gone. And when she returns, it will be a few days before she gets back into the rhythm of things here.

She did a great job of helping Paul out in Hawaii, and helped him do a lot of things around the house that he couldn't have done. So I'm thinking that Mary thinks the trip was worth it.

I'm happy to be able to support Mary when she needs to go and take care of family. Mary is just as supportive of me when I do the same. Fortunately I haven't had to do that for quite some time.

So I made Mary some veggie soup, and have a lovely loaf of sourdough bread to go with the soup. Great eating for a winter's day. (The veggie soup has some homegrown green beans, so I count that as part of our local eating challenge.)

What is simple about all of this traveling? Not much, really. However, living a simple and frugal lifestyle gives us the time and financial freedom to be able to go on short notice to take care of family. And isn't family (and friends - i.e., community) what life is about? No? Not for you? It is for me.

This brings me to the question of how I define family. Is family just blood kin? Or is it really a mixture of blood kin, dear friends, and chosen people in our lives? Those people who are there to teach us about life, spirituality, or whatever, just as we are ready to learn? Family for me is all of those people and more. Those people who are a part of lives, our past, and our present who are there for us, even when we are difficult to be around, and even when times are tough.

So living simply gives me time to be able to find these things out.

Novocaine

2008-02-06T17:22:00.000-05:00

I will now thank the gods and goddesses of dentistry that there is so much good pain reliever out there now.

I had to get 3 "problem areas" worked on today. It seems that I had a couple of pits, and one filling that had failed, and had some decay underneath. So my dentist wanted to get that taken care of. I was in today for that procedure. I didn't feel any pain, but I sure did feel the high-pitched whine of that drill as it worked on that top tooth. I can't imagine what I would have felt had I not had that Novocaine.
Anyway, all is well, but now my right side of my jaw feels like it is drooling, even though I'm sure my mouth is closed. Very funny feeling. I have a bit of discomfort in my jaw from clenching, and I'm having to remind myself that I need to keep my teeth just far enough apart without opening my mouth (so I DON'T drool all over myself.)

This brings about the frugal point of my post. It is much less expensive to have good dental insurance, brush and floss regularly and have regular dental check-ups and cleanings, than to try to pay for dental damage that isn't caught soon enough. So remember that maintaining yourself is one of the best investments you can make! (Because if you don't maintain yourself, you will later want to give ANY amount of money to get your health back!)

Simple Weekend

2008-02-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I equate simple, with rest. Like this weekend. I spent several hours doing a whole lot of simple things. Cleaning, laundry, reading, bathing, and such. I even went for a few walks, a bike ride to the bank, and ate up leftovers from the fridge. I didn't feel like cooking, since it was just me in the house, so I ate what I had cooked on Friday.

I turned on the "classical" radio station, and listened to beautiful music all day Sunday. I got my side of the bedroom tidied up, and swept up the floor. I didn't tackle the under the bed stuff, since I didn't want to work ALL day! That can wait until Mary is here to help.

Mary's psychopsis orchid is blooming. I say hers, because it was one of the ones she picked out at the orchid show back in October. Here is a picture of one that I found on the net, but I'll post of picture of hers when I can find a camera. It is really a spectacular plant, and the flower stalk is about 2 1/2 feet high, with that flower sitting pretty right on top!

I'm going to be doing a little bit of cooking for dinner, just don't quite know what I'm going to be making. I need to grind some wheat for muffins, but after that... I don't know.

I do feel well rested, and have soaked up plenty of alone time this weekend.

Another pretty flower!

2008-01-25T17:12:00.000-05:00

I came home from work today (yes, I'm feeling MUCH better thank you,) and found this beauty open and displaying for me. I got it a while back from Carter and Holmes Orchids. Very pretty plant with a very light fragrance today, but maybe it will smell a little stronger first thing in the morning. Mine is young so it only has one little flower open with another bud on the way. Eventually it will look like the one in the link above.

I'll have to take a picture of the living room coffee table soon, just to show all the fantastic flowers I have on display in there! I love orchids!

Sick Days

2008-01-24T09:08:00.000-05:00

It is true. Even vegans get a cold once in a while. Eating healthy food doesn't keep those cold viruses away. Luckily for me, it is only about once a year. And I have plenty of PTO (Personal Time Off) saved up.

My cold struck yesterday morning early. I had a sore throat, and my voice was going. A hacking, dry cough accompanied the sore throat. So I filled my pocket with cough drops, and went off to work. I spent 2 hours at work, with everyone asking me why I sounded so bad. After that, and realizing that my sore throat was getting worse, I told my boss, I was leaving. I came home, drank some herbal tea, and slept. I laid around the house all day yesterday, even when I wasn't sleeping. I got some reading done, but that was about it.

I got to bed early, and slept fitfully. I still had the sore throat this morning, so, I called out sick AGAIN! So I'm laying around, drinking huge amounts of fluids, spraying my throat with Chloraseptic spray, and sucking on cough drops. I hope I'll be well enough to go back to work tomorrow.

If not, well, it will be a long weekend. But I would much rather use my time off to get something done, not being sick. But, I consider myself lucky that I generally don't get sick often.

Tip for the day: Wash hands often!

One of the new orchids bloomed!

2008-01-22T21:00:00.000-05:00

A beautiful miniature white orchid, purchased at the orchid show at the National Arboretum in October, Phalenopsis equestris alba. Here is a link to the picture.

Holiday from work

2008-01-21T18:04:00.000-05:00

Not much going on this weekend for me. I've been more like an observer of the stuff going on around me. I've managed to do a little cooking, and some more cooking. I used the new silicon muffin pans that we got from JoAnn's on Saturday. With them, I don't need any oil to get things out of the pans - the silicone is non-stick. They worked very well, well worth the $20 for the 4 pans. We has 4- 50% off coupons and sent each twin through with a pan and a coupon. So we got them for 1/2 off. Quite a deal!

I had a lazy day yesterday, but Mary got the curtains finished for our bedroom by the time we were ready to go to sleep, and wow, we slept late today. Those curtains make the room very dark, but just light enough to see by. Oh, and the curtains look really good too. Check them out!

Samuel had a bunch of his guy friends come over for some play time today. You might think that a 14 year-old would have outgrown playgroups, but they had a good time, just hanging out. They went up to the park in the 30 degree weather and played some sort of running-tag games.

Miriam, has been amusing herself around the house, reading, studying for exams, and generally relaxing.

I have yet to get to the sorting of the seeds and getting my seed order ready for spring planting.
Next weekend.

Snow, Snow, Snow, Rain

2008-01-17T19:10:00.000-05:00

I feel like such a kid, watching the fluffy white flakes coming down. I love the stuff. I get so giddy when the first snows come. I love the way the world looks covered in the white blankets of winter. Fantastic, how the sun glints off the billions of diamonds and dazzles the senses. That crisp smell of dry air, and the awesome silence of the snow absorbing sounds, deadening loud noises and swallowing the soft sounds.
The snows came to our area today. Not too much, but enough to make everyone grumble and gripe about driving and such. Not me. I was trying to contain utter joy at seeing the white stuff. I felt like the only positive person in a sea of pessimism. So what if the snow is cold! So what if it makes it a bit more of a challenge to get home? So what if I have to clean off my car, run the defroster and drive slowly? I get to see the wonder of snow!

The rain started much later, around dark. I think it will melt some of the snow, but if it freezes tonight, will make chipping my car out a challenge tomorrow morning. But I'll be enjoying that too!

I will not tell a lie...

2008-01-06T20:14:00.000-05:00

I did not chop down the cherry tree. But I did salvage the wood from the one that fell down across the street! It fell down in my neighbor's driveway, narrowly missing the corner of her house. She had a fella come by and cut it into firewood lengths, and stack the big logs up in her yard. She was kind enough to allow me to take the wood off her hands. So I spent the afternoon splitting, then wheelbarrowing the wood to my woodpile. It will be lovely to burn next winter, after it has seasoned well.

I'm still using the cherry wood from the tree that went down a year and a half ago. I've used up most of that, and will be working on the poplar that we salvaged from the ice storm last winter.

This keeps me from spending $200 or so for a cord of wood, most of which I won't use until next year. If more trees go down around here, my wood pile will get bigger.

Surgical removal of Television

2007-12-17T15:12:00.000-05:00

Some folks have TVs in every room in the house. There are special models for bedrooms, family rooms, kitchens, and game rooms. Big screens for Home Theaters, and small screens for a spare bedroom. Well, our house has only one TV, and it is pretty old. I has a built-in VHS player, and the reds wash into the blues, making for interesting pictures to watch. Anyway, Mary and I don't watch TV very much, but the kids like to turn it on sometimes.

Here is the catch. One of our kids (who will remain nameless in this post, but you know who you are...) has had some scholastic challenges this year, and has lost the electronic entertainments at our house. Everyone in the house knows what loss of electronic entertainment means. No TV viewing for the person, until the grades come back within standard. So, I've come home from work or from being out for this and that 3 times now, and found the TV on, being watched (or having been watched) by the child who knew that it was off limits.
The first time, I discussed it with Mary and decided that appropriate action would be to remove the TV from everyone, but I procrastinated on that, not wanting to inflict the lack of TV on the child who has no restrictions. When it happened the second time, I confronted the child, hoping that the child would change behavior after being confronted, saving me from having to take drastic action. For a couple of weeks this seems to have worked.
Or so I thought until today.
I came home from work, and found the kids listening to my Mannheim Steamroller V album... The same one I had listened to yesterday. Oh, and it had just started. I grew suspicious. I asked the kids if they had been watching TV. They replied, "Yes." Both kids knew that one of them was not supposed to be watching TV. The child who was not supposed to be watching TV seemed rather smug about it also. I asked them calmly and nicely what they had been watching. They said, "Sabrina". I then asked if they had enjoyed it. And again they said, "Yes."
To their credit, they didn't add lying to the situation. If only they had hit the off button on the stereo, instead of the CD button... Good ol' James wouldn't have been any the wiser...

So I came upstairs, took off my shoes, and then very calmly went back to the family room, and began to remove the TV. Both kids watched. Neither said a word. I unplugged the TV, coiled the cord around it, and picked it up and carried it downstairs. It now sits on a chair in the storage area that used to be Eliza's room. Unplugged and unwatchable.
I came back upstairs, as if this was normal, not having raised my voice, not having shouted, not having done anything but remove the TV, and apologized to the child who has now lost TV also. That child will now suffer TV loss because of the siblings disobedience.

The TV may come back when/if Mary and I want to watch a movie, but then it will be taken back downstairs. When the grades come back up to standard, the TV may come back. Until that time, the TV is officially on vacation.

Weekend Wrundown

2007-12-16T18:36:00.000-05:00

Pardon the horrible title but I thought it was a bit cute.

Anyway, Mary and I had a slow-ish weekend. She is grading exam papers from her class, and studying for her own exams. I've been knocking about, doing the small odd jobs and little things around the house that needed doing.

Mary had a few of her coworkers ask her about being vegan and sweets. They are under the impression that Mary can't eat sweets, because nobody in the whole world knows how to make things without eggs, milk, and butter. WRONG! Mary asked me to make some of my vegan brownies to "show off" a bit. I did that, and I made a double batch of vegan fudge to go with her also. If they don't like the brownies (I'm sure they will though) they will LOVE the fudge.
I'll hear back on the treats tomorrow.

Laundry was done. Dishes washed. Kitchen tidied up. Firewood brought in. Kindling chopped. Groceries purchased. Carrots chopped into sticks. Bell peppers hacked into bite sized pieces. Hummus made. Soup for dinner last night - Mary wanted something with mushrooms and onions, so I whipped up a delicious soup for us. Dinner tonight was Spicy Mongolian Noodles.
For dessert, we enjoyed half of a freshly picked Florida orange.

Overall, a very relaxing weekend.

Fall Mulching of the "Gardens"

2007-12-09T20:55:00.000-05:00

I spent some time scattering 5 bales of straw over the front and side gardens this morning. It had rained last night, and the leaves were nice and wet from the rain and melted snow from last week. I thought it was the perfect time to get the straw down.

This is another of my "experiments". I'm trying to see if the straw holds in enough moisture to help the leaves decompose in place, rather than raking them up. Hopefully by spring the worms will have done their thing and the mulch will have black earth under it. I know it works in the forest, I'm just helping it along a bit with the straw. I'll let you know if it works. Next year.

Mary has been working on papers for school most of the weekend. but we had a lovely break yesterday. We went to a Friends wedding. Two of the elder Friends, who had each lost a spouse, found each other and fell in love earlier this year, and now have tied the knot. The wedding was "under care of Meeting," so it was very Quakerly. I was married in the same way, since Mary is a member of the Friends Meeting. The wedding was very simple. The meeting sits in silent worship for about 15 minutes, and when the spirit moves the couple, they rise, take each other's hand, and speak their vows. Most couples write their own vows, but some use a traditional format. They then exchange rings (if they want to) and then kiss. They sign the wedding certificate, and then sit back down and settle into silence. A member of their Clearness Committee then reads the certificate, and then sits down. At that time, Friends are welcome to rise and speak, saying whatever good wishes, thoughts, congratulations, or words of wisdom they want to share. It is a very powerful and uplifting ceremony. After everyone who wishes to speak has spoken, the clerk of the clearness committee then rises and closes the meeting. The couple leaves first, then the committee and finally the meeting rises. All who witnessed the wedding are asked to sign the certificate. And this takes some time, as there are many people who go to the weddings. That's a good thing! That was Saturday afternoon. All the best to Carol and Bill and as many happy times together as you have remaining. I'm so glad you found each other.

Other than that it has been a restful and peaceful weekend.

Teen Ager Parties

2007-12-02T13:50:00.000-05:00

So Mary had this idea the Samuel and Miriam (both 14) could have a party. They each invited some kids, and it would be hosted by us, and well, everyone would enjoy themselves. It went fine.

We had 17 14+ year-olds in the house last night for about 4 1/2 hours. They played games, chatted and were very LOUD!!! Mary and I kept them within bounds, as 14 year-olds seem to want to push the boundaries to see how far they can get. Aside from eating 8 pizzas, chips, dips, veggies, and gallons of soda, they did very well. It was good to see the kids that our kids are hanging out with.

It was a quick Saturday night... looking back at it. Living through it was a bit more nerve-wracking.

Love you Samuel!
Love you Miriam!

Thursday night dinner

2007-11-29T17:43:00.000-05:00

I made pinto beans in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I soaked the beans last night, rinsed them this morning, and then chopped an onion, tossed in some garlic, a few dashes of salt, a couple of cubes of veg bullion and turned it on high for the day. When I got home 10 hours later, the house smelled of beans, onions and garlic.
I had planned to make cornbread to go with the beans, but remembered that corn cakes were easier for everyone to handle, and didn't require heating the oven, either. So I made a double batch of corn cakes to go with the beans. A very yummy dinner for when my darling wife gets home from her grad school, and slog through the evening traffic.

The twins are planning a part for Saturday night, so I will need to go shopping tomorrow for the supplies. It should be a good time.

Mary is HOME!

Long weekend

2007-11-24T18:38:00.000-05:00

One of the joys of life is living it. Taking the time to just settle in, pick up a good book and enjoy. This is what I've done today. Keeping it simple.

This week has also been a time of rest, relaxation and healing. Recharging mental batteries so to speak.

Mary and I had a quiet Thanksgiving day. She spent the day curled up reading, and I made several delicious vegan dishes. I made dressing balls, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked sweet potatoes with pineapple and cloves and just a hint of brown sugar, green bean casserole, butternut squash, acorn squash, and vegan brownies for dessert. Ok, so some of those things weren't around for the original Thanksgiving meal, but it was plenty to fill our plates (and our bellies.) And no, I didn't miss the fake turkey this year. It simply wasn't needed. We ate well, and were satisfied. And we are still eating the leftovers!

I got my stitches out yesterday, and the doctor said I was a very fast healer. Yeah! That really comes in handy for someone who has fast and powerful reflexes like mine!

I built Kit T Kat a cat tree on Friday. It has 4 levels, and is carpeted in a dark green to go with our current furniture color scheme. It also has sisal rope wound around 2 of the legs for Kit to scratch her nails on. There was some wood that wasn't covered by the carpeting, so Mary and I glued (and tacked) some of the rope down in those spots to cover the wood. Very nice effect. You can just see the top of the cat tree in the lower left-hand side of the picture.

Today I built 4 Cat-shelves, and covered them in carpet also. I hung 3 of them on the wall using banister mounting hardware. The fourth will get mounted later. I found the idea on the internet. The trouble is, our cat hasn't figured out how cool these things are yet. Give her time. I may make enough of these shelves for the cat to get all around the living room. They are pretty easy to make. Our house is on it's way to being extremely cat accessible! (Mary has been having good fun watching me work to build things for the cat... Laughs and says that I amuse her. Whatever could she mean? Me!?! Amusing? Bah!)

Mary said I may get another kitten to play on the cat toys and be a playmate for Kit. I'm not sure about that one... I may get another kitty for Kit to play with in the spring. If so, it will be a cat, not a kitten. Preferably a cat that is at the shelter and needs adopting. I'm not sure I want to deal with the kitten stage of training.

The best thing about these projects is that I built them out of scrap wood, and only had to find the carpet, rope, and banister hangers to make them. I also used screws and staples I had on hand. So I really saved money. Frugality rocks. I checked the prices of the cat trees online, and found ones comparable to the one I built selling for over $150 US. Wow. And the cat shelves? $34 US a piece online. I love being handy with tools.

Here is a picture of the house sign that I built several weeks ago, and finally uploaded so that I could post the picture. Ok, so this picture was in the camera with these others... but anyway, here it is.

You can click on the images for a larger closeup of these photos.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T08:52:00.000-05:00

I usually give thanks every day for the joys in my life, but today I'll write about some of them. I try to make it a practice to recognize 3 joys to be thankful for every day.

I'm thankful for the health of my family and friends.
For a fantastic relationship that my wife and built over the last 5 years since we met.
For the nephew's 3 brain surgeries that went so well, and have (fingers crossed) halted his seizures forever.
For the beautiful colors of the trees at this time of year.
For enough to feed, clothe and sustain my family.
For our plant-based whole-foods diet, which has improved all of our health.
For the knowledge that we have and are able to share on this wondrous thing called the internet.
For the ability to be able to turn off the TV, change radio stations, and choose not to read advertisements in whatever form they try to get to us. And the right not to fill our house with stuff that does not make us happy.
For the library, so we don't have to pay for all of those books that we like to read.
For the simple joys of living in a world that is basically neutral, it is the people who sometimes aren't.
For being able to choose the best path for me, and the support I have from family and friends in those decisions.
For the simple life.
For living below our means, so that we can save money for what we dream of doing.
For living.
For simple meditation time.
For slow walks around the neighborhood with Mary.
For the loving and gentle teasing and play that Mary and I have together.
For hugs from my 14 year-old twins. (Still!)

You gotta be careful...

2007-11-15T18:43:00.000-05:00

Cooking dinner. Stoves are HOT! I accidentally touched a hot burner with my left hand, and my reflexes took over. My arm shot almost straight up and banged really hard on the range hood. Those things are not dull. I have a cut about a half inch long on the back of my hand, right along the tendon/vein, just before the knuckle. So every time I went to grasp something, the wound comes open. Mary called the Navy clinic, and the doctor called me back, authorized me to go to an urgent care clinic up in Pasadena, since the Navy clinic had already closed for the afternoon. I'm patiently waiting for my appointment time to come up (9:10 pm) so that I can get this thing either glued, or sewn shut. Really shouldn't take long, but serious enough that I need to be seen.

So I wait.

Oh, update on Evan's surgery. The tuber removal went well, but there are still some seizures happening, so another surgery may be in the works, to remove just a bit more of the area, and hopefully stop those seizures for good. We are all thinking well for you Evan.

(EDIT) - About 10:30 pm. I've returned from the clinic with 2 stitches in the back of my left hand. I really am thankful for modern pain meds. The Novocaine used on my wound made the whole procedure painless. And the PA did quite a bit of scrubbing to clean it out, then showed another technician what my nicked tendon looked like, and finally sutured me up. All in all, not a bad visit to the clinic. I will have to take antibiotics because the wound was so deep. Just a precautionary measure, since I did damage the sheath on the tendon too. And an infection in that could really turn ugly fast.

Thank you Mary for driving me to the clinic, and waiting on me to get doctored up! I love you!

Speaking of Ginger...

2007-11-07T19:38:00.000-05:00

It was harvesting time, since our temperatures are getting down to frost/Hard frost. I pulled all of the ginger roots out of the ground, and left the leaves for the hungry worms. I washed the dirt off the roots with rainwater, and watered the kale at the same time. I wound up with about a cookie sheet full of fresh, fragrant, delicious, ginger roots. Wow! These taste so good in oriental cooking! I may slice up some this weekend for making ginger candy.

I also pulled all of the sweet potatoes out. I would say that I was disappointed with the harvest there. I blame the drought we had, and general shady conditions in the yard. I think they would have done much better had we had steady rain all summer. We did get enough for a few meals, though.

I also found 2 more small acorn squashes as I was harvesting the sweet potatoes. That brings our acorn squash count up to 6! I plan to cook them this weekend. That should be yummy!

I haven't had much time, due to taking an intensive computer training course. I work all day on the computer at the course, then come home and surf the 'net and play with the family. Wednesday is different, as Mary is still at grad school, and the twins are over at their dad's house. And I'm here in the house by myself. James time.

I haven't heard from Kyle for quite some time. I drove down to see his high-school band perform at the end of October, but Kyle ignored me as he walked by. I guess it wasn't "cool" for him to acknowledge his dad while surrounded by his marching band friends. I had enjoyed the performance, based on the "Orient Express". They had a cute steam engine train on the field, that moved from "station" to "station" as the music changed. The marching was excellent, and they sounded great. Overall I think they were the best band there that day. I don't usually lament on how much I miss the kid Kyle used to be, now that his 16th birthday is approaching, it gets harder and harder. I just keep on loving the son he was, and hope that I will get to know the young man he has become. It is very hard not hearing from him though. Very hard.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly... My nephew Evan goes in for the first of 3 brain surgeries tomorrow. All of us here are pulling for him! The surgeries are supposed to correct his epileptic seizures, by removing a tuber that has grown and seems to be setting off the seizures. That seems to be the plan anyway. So if you would care to check out the progress, Lisa, Evan's mom, has this blog going to get the word out. Medical Maze. Best of luck and a very speedy recovery, Evan!

What I've been up to...

2007-10-31T17:56:00.001-04:00

Not much especially. I've been reading blogs, Orchid forums (yep, got swept up in learning again!) and generally enjoying life.

Fall has finally arrived here in Maryland, and I'm getting the garden shut down. I've been wanting to mulch in the whole place, but have been waiting for the leaves to fall. Did I mention that I've been waiting for the leaves to fall? Some have due to the warm weather and the drought Maryland has had this summer. But the majority of the leaves are still up on the trees, green and quite well attached! How am I supposed to mulch them under all the straw if they are still on the trees? Wait and do it next month. You know, holiday time. Times when I will have a slightly more busy schedule to deal with.

I found a new grocery store today. I like to cook Asian style food, and this store had "Asian Grocery" on the sign, so I was expecting Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. But no! INDIAN! I found a place to buy basmati rice close to home, lentils, and all the spices that I used to make a special trip about 45 minutes out of my way to acquire. I really try to keep those trips to a minimum, but now that I know that the store is there, I will definitely do my staple shopping there! They have tons of vegetarian ingredients that are difficult to find in the big grocery stores. A good source of curry leaves is worth a celebration anyway. Tamarind sauce, many varieties of chutneys, papadams, paratha bread, and on and on and on. Anyway, I chatted with the owner of the store, who was also manning the register, and he told me he is from Nepal, and they eat a very similar diet to the Northern Indians. Wow! I'm psyched!

I scored some more "free wood" from the wood flooring manufacturing place on Tuesday. They leave rejects out on a big palette for anyone who wants it. It never stays long. I just happened to get there just ahead of a fellow with a pick-up truck who took all of what I couldn't fit in the trunk of my car. I had to pick up the Wonder Twins from school so I didn't get all that my car could hold. Anyway, I stacked it up out back with the rest of the wood. This stuff is red oak, maple, and some pine, but sawn, cured and cut to about 3 foot lengths. There is some really bad looking stuff, and that gets cut for firewood, the rest waits for various projects that I will undertake in my spare time.
Right now I have a solar wax melter to build, a honey comb press and a Sockinator (My name for a device used to hang socks and other small pieces of clothing on the clothesline easily.)

The new glasses have worked out really well. I am not getting headaches from them anymore, and I think I've got the trick down to being able to see using them. So I think I'll survive with them even better now! I love modern technology and learning! Now if we can use that technology for the forces of good, and feed the world, cool the place off a little, and generally help each other up, the Human race might actually win!

Short arms...

2007-10-17T17:35:00.000-04:00

So I've been complaining that my arms are getting shorter, that words are getting fuzzy up close, and all that. Well, I made an appointment to get my eyes examined. The great news is that I'm relatively normal. No glaucoma signs, which is good. The doctor did say that I have a slightly greater than normal loss of epiphilial cells on my cornea than someone my age should have, but nothing to really do about that. And the good news, I need new glasses! Bifocals! I haven't gone to the glasses store yet, but will soon. I'm not looking forward to adjusting for them, but I am looking forward to being able to see print without having to stretch out my arms.

Beehives Done!

2007-10-08T15:13:00.001-04:00

Well, almost. I still need to put the beeswax line on each top bar, but that can be done anytime. Here are several pictures of the painted and finished hives. I only painted the tops and socks on the feet and legs, the rest of the bodies are finished with linseed oil and beeswax melted together. Smells wonderful!

Here is another picture with some of the top bars in, and the follower board. This is how much space the initial package of bees will use. The rest of the space is for later in the season, when they need more room to put honey.

And here is a picture with all the top bars in, and after that, with the roof on.!

I would consider that Columbus day this year was very productive! I got the beehives finished, and installed in their new locations, to weather out the winter and wait for the new neighbors to move in next spring!

I also made a house number sign for the front yard. We used to have the numbers up on the house, but took them down when we had the house repainted. Oh, 2 years ago? We also had the number painted on the curb, but that has faded away. And we still have the number on the mailbox, but the clematis has grown so well, that the number is completely covered up! So, I used one of the extra follower boards, sanded it down nicely. I also used some of the scrap oak that I got from the flooring manufacturer near my job, and made a nice sign post. I wanted to use some of the chain I had left over from hanging the lights on Mary's plant-light shelves, but I could not find that chain to save my life. So I made some out of heavy gage wire. It should hold, but if it doesn't, I'll go buy some, I guess, even though that isn't the frugal way to do it! I still have to put the finish on the sign, but I can't do that until the glue dries. So, maybe tomorrow I'll get that bit done. And here is an almost finished picture of that sign, the numbers are just resting on it for now, and you can see the clamps on it too.

Orchid Show!

2007-10-06T20:14:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I have a green thumb. I inherited it from my grandmother who could make rocks grow! Example to the right...
But I digress. The orchid show started today at the National Arboretum (just inside Washington D.C.) If you've never been to a flower show, they are absolutely stunning! I was amazed at the displays and the fragrance of the flowers.

It didn't help that while I was in Florida last June, I went to an orchid grower's greenhouse and was bowled over by the plants then, but didn't want to get more orchids that I would have to baby all the way home. So I didn't get any then. I have been surfing the web, shopping, learning and generally looking at hundreds of pictures of orchids, trying to narrow down ones that I would like to have of my own. I knew that the National Capital Orchid Society was having their show in October, so I had to wait until then. Well today was the day. I managed to only take home 4 orchids. Two of them are miniatures, growing on cork-bark, and the other two are Dendrobiums growing in their own little pots. The big orchids have yellowish blooms with a dark maroon lip. Stunning.

Anyway, that was my highlight of the day.

The take home lesson for me is that I waited for over 4 months to get my orchids, and spent only $80. Not especially frugal, but lots of delayed gratification on that front.

Blog award Nomination... I'd like to thank the academy...

2007-10-05T16:34:00.000-04:00

Chile, was nominated for the "Change Begins At Home" blog award by Melanie, who searches for the good life in Cheshire over at Bean Sprouts. Melanie created the "Change begins at home" award to recognize bloggers who live what they preach, making the changes in their own lives that they would like to see in the world. Thanks for reading!

Chile nominated me in turn.

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Nominate three bloggers who epitomize "Change begins at home"

2. Link back to the person who nominated you, and link back to this post

3. When you receive the award, you may display the "Change begins at home" button on your blog.

I'd like to nominate three blogs I read for this award. They inspire and educate me on a regular, if not daily, basis:

1: Simple Living

2: Frugal Veggie Mamma

and not least, but last in this list... Liz at Pocket Farm

All great blogs, and all inspire with energy (even when they get overwhelmed) and action. I like the action part.

This seems like it will make a huge community of bloggers eventually, who are all doing positive things in their lives to make a difference for themselves, their families, their communities, their nations, and OUR planet.

As I replied back to Chile, I didn't even realize that there were people out there reading my blog, other than my few loyal family members.

Thanks for the nomination!

International Space Station transit!

2007-10-04T20:02:00.000-04:00

I had heard on the radio today that the ISS was going to be transiting Maryland at 7:55 pm, and I mentioned this to Mary as we went out for our evening walk. It was amazing that a meteorologist actually talked about the night sky as well as the weather! Mary got excited and we scouted out a good place to have some night sky view in our neighborhood. That isn't easy, since we have so many trees. Anyway, we walked around, and wound up passing the house again, and Mary stuck her head in to ask if the Twins would like to view it. Samuel took her up on it. We walked up to the empty area, and started looking up. It came out of the southwest sky and move northeasterly. It appeared very bright, brighter than Jupiter, and moved across the sky in about 3 1/2 minutes. Wow. A fitting celebration for the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik I.

Finishing Beehives!

2007-09-30T18:44:00.001-04:00

So I got all the woodwork done on the 2 top bar Beehives. Yea! I still have the finishing to do, but that will have to wait until oh, next weekend. I'll post pictures after I get them ready to finish.

I'm not sure if I want to paint them or what. I have some exterior paint, and I may just paint the roofs, and not paint the sides. I am planning on using linseed oil and beeswax for the outside of the hive bodies themselves. That will be fun, won't it?

Photos in Public album

2007-09-29T17:24:00.000-04:00

Here is a link to photos in my public album. They are of my beautiful wife and her 3 lovely daughters! I think those ladies have all of their inner beauty shine out, don't you?

Beans!

2007-09-08T20:42:00.002-04:00

I did some more garden work today. It was a beautiful day, and I decided to do some of the things that I've been meaning to do for a while. I went to the Southern States and picked up some more clover seed, and also some inoculate for beans and peas, and some more collards seeds. I also purchased 6 bales of straw. I am going to use the straw in my sheet mulching efforts, as well as mulching the leaves in this fall. With the straw on top of the leaves, they stay moist longer, and the worms like eating them when they are moist. Makes for excellent worm food.

So after I got home, unloaded the car, had some lunch, I was back outside. I harvested some onions (they were pretty small, due to the drought.) I also picked about a dozen roma tomatoes, and I spent about 40 minutes picking beans. I wound up with 2 gallon zip bags full to freeze, and a large tubby full for tomorrow's dinner. Wow! Lots of beans. It took almost an hour to get them all washed, snapped, packed and in the freezer! But we will be eating them well into the winter.

I have kale coming along nicely now. I have it planted on both sides of the house to see how well it does there. I didn't plant any out front this year, but will next spring.

Acorn squash. Those silly plants take up huge amounts of room! I was looking around them today and found 2 pretty big acorn squash on them. I hope there are more up in the flowers that I can't see right now. I'll wait until the flowers die back and the squash plants die back and then I'll just pick them up, and we will have some yummy squash for dinner one night.

I spent some more time watering the plants around the yard. This drought sure is keeping things from growing much, and watering them is a chore. I've almost emptied my water barrels again. I need rain to fill those barrels again because I've had to, gasp!, use the house water!

2007-09-08T20:42:00.001-04:00

Witness to accident

2007-09-05T15:00:00.001-04:00

I happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. I was driving home from work, southbound on Rt. 2 in Severna Park, Md, when I was slowing down for the usual red light at the end of the shopping center. There is a pull through of the median right where I was stopping, and cars were stopped there waiting to turn left into the Old Navy/Giant Food shopping area.

What happened next was a tan Toyota sedan pulled out into the road, intending to go to the shopping center. What she didn't see after the last car went past in the group, was the one lone motorcyclist riding up the road at about 45 mph. He was riding a blue and white Suzuki off road/on road model. The motorcyclist took evasive action and braked, but plowed into the right quarter panel of the young lady's car. He flew over the back of her car, his motorcycle went down, having bounced off the car at a different angle than he took off the bike. He was wearing a helmet, and gloves, but no other safety equipment. The motorcyclist came to a rest about 35 feet from his bike.

I stopped, turned on my hazard lights, and went to render assistance. The Anne Arundel County Police were there even before anyone could call 911. I think one of the officers was driving north on rt. 2 when he saw it happen. Three police cars were there in a matter of 3 minutes. One of them was unmarked. The fire department was next, when one driver stopped, jumped out of his car, and put on his yellow fire department vest. The rest of the fire and rescue crew got there after about 5 minutes.

The motorcycle driver had got up and moved to the median, where he was made to lie back down. Several of us stood around him, shading him, in case he went into shock. We wouldn't let him take off his helmet, either.

The police officer took several of our ID's and statements. What several eye-witnesses saw (myself included) was that the car driver pulled out in front of the motorcyclist, leaving him nowhere to go, and no time to stop. And he did try to stop, because I saw his front end dip down before he impacted the car.

The motorcyclist seemed to be ok, but was pretty scraped up. He may have broken something, but was not feeling any pain really probably due to the adrenaline. The EMTs were going to transport him to the local hospital to be checked out, treated and whatever else needs to happen.

His motorcycle was totaled.

So that was a very exciting few minutes there.

That makes 2 accidents I've witnessed in about 2 miles of that section of Rt. 2. Both were on nice sunny days, and both seemed unreal as they happened in front of (or beside) me.

Wow.

Beans and Tomatoes

2007-09-04T19:27:00.001-04:00

With the dryness we've had this summer, we didn't get much in the way of potatoes. We harvested a bunch of tubers, but most were really small. We had some good sized ones, that some rodent (dang voles!) or other decided tasted pretty good.

Anyway, I've planted lots of kales in patches around the yard, and they seem to be coming up pretty well. They are thick right now, but I'll be thinning them down soon.

Beans. We got lots of beans. I've frozen 6 gallon zip-lock sized bags of assorted beans so far, and it really doesn't look like they are going to stop any time soon. We have been eating them steamed, stir-fried, and in soup too. I'm planning on veggie pot-pie for Thursday night's dinner. I'll use some of those fine purple potatoes, our lovely green beans, and (sigh) store bought carrots.

Our tomatoes finally came in. We are having several eating size beefsteak tomatoes, and Samuel, Eliza and I have been trying to keep up with the cherry tomatoes. I don't expect I'll need to buy seeds for any of them next year, since I'm returning some of the seeds to the tomato mulched areas. Mary wanted roma tomatoes, and we have just enough to make a batch of spaghetti sauce, and I have that simmering on the stove for tomorrow night's dinner. It will be extra yummy then, I'm sure! I'll do up some bread, and maybe some more beans...

Things that didn't do well in our shaded garden areas... carrots (slugs got them!), swiss chard, cucumbers, yellow squash (dang beetles) zucchini squash (planted way too late) and lettuce, spinach, and beets in the back yard. Next spring, I'm going to be planting a whole lot more food crops in the front yard, and I'm not going to be putting down shredded hardwood mulch. That stuff mats up so much that no water can get in, and the rain we had ran off without wetting the soil underneath. So, I'll cover the new soil with straw, and mulch everything in nicely.

We have some really long sweet potato vines in the front yard, but it isn't anywhere time to eat those yet. And did you know that you can eat the leaves of the sweet potato as "greens"? You slow down the formation of the tuber if you eat them before harvesting the tuber, but the whole plant can be eaten when you harvest the tubers.

Onions didn't do well on Herb Hill. Hardwood mulch kept the water out. Same with the garlic we planted there. The basil didn't do well there either, but we will try again next year with a lot more seedlings.

Mary and I have decided that beans really do well in our yard, and that we really like them, so we will see what comes of them next year.

We'll have snow peas and snap peas in the ground soon, hopefully we can have some before the frost.

Mary back to school!

2007-08-20T16:51:00.001-04:00

So Mary got the jump on the kids this semester... she went for her Graduate Orientation today. She will go again tomorrow too. I'm so very proud of her! She is very excited about the program, so much so that she didn't sleep much last night. She is not looking forward to the commute, however.

We got some much needed rain last night! All of the rain barrels are full, and I'll be moving more water (time permitting) to plants and trees and stuff. Trying to keep the soil hydrated too.It is amazing how quickly the plants turn green when a good soaking rain sets in. And the forecast is calling for some more showers tonight! I do hope we get some more.

Visit with Granny.

2007-08-06T09:59:00.000-04:00

After our sky dive on Saturday, Mary, Eliza, Tori and I went the rest of the way down to Waynesboro to visit with Granny.

Granny had a couple of things that she wanted me to check for her. The oil in the car, the fluid levels and what not. I topped up the windshield fluid for her, but the rest looked great. Her car doesn't have 3000 miles on it yet. She also wanted me to check her downstairs toilet. It had a flapper problem. That was an easy fix. Replace the flapper.

She is doing very well these days. She says she still hurts, but is doing the best she can. We visited for a while, then went out to "linner" with her. After eating we stopped by the Lowes and I went in and found a new flapper for the toilet. She of course insisted on paying for it. So when we got back to her house, we had a little toilet repair class for Granny and my daughters. Really simple fix. I talked them all through the repair, showed them how to turn off the water, remove the old worn out part, and how to put the new one back on.

Like I told them, and easy fix. Now Granny can use the downstairs toilet and not have to travel all the way back upstairs.

It was a good visit. It was very good to see her and she was very glad to see us.

Skydiving!

2007-08-05T16:51:00.000-04:00

Mary and I took Eliza to skydive yesterday. Now that she is 18, she can sign away her life and JUMP! We drove down to Skydive Orange. We got there at about 9 am, and signed in, went through the simple ground training and then Eliza and I filled out the long legal paperwork. Mary convinced me to take another skydive at the same time. We turned in out paperwork and then had to wait. We signed up for the tandem skydive.
While we were there, we noticed that the U.S. Army Golden Knights were at the dropzone, practicing and having a relaxing day of skydiving. One of the Golden Knights is an amputee, who lost his leg above the knee. He is still on active duty, working for the Army, and oh, darn they pay him to skydive!
We got into the airplane at about 12, and flew up to about 14,500 feet! The plane carried 20 sky divers on our trip, and Eliza had a blast! She had another skydiver taking video of her jump so that she will be able to prove that she did it! Anyway, I got to watch her make her jump and then my jumpmaster (Mike) and I headed for the door and followed Eliza and her crew out. What a ride! As I moved to the door, I thought to myself, "I'm really doing this again!" That was jump 18 for me.
As we were falling, I got to watch Eliza as she was skydiving, as well as that fantastic view of the world coming up to meet us. And, as always, the skydive is too short, and we opened our 'chute at 6000 feet. We had a nice long ride down. While we were flying, we flew our chute close to Eliza's and waved and smiled and hooted at each other. Then we flew away from each other and got to play with the wind! Mike (the jumpmaster) got us spinning around really fast and turning this way and that. Lots of wild fun. As we were flying back toward the dropzone, we watched Eliza and her jumpmaster land, and then we did a few more of those spins and s-turns and then we were down. I really love that feeling of flying!

Eliza said that it was great and fantastic.

I can now brag at work that I jumped with the Golden Knights! Oh, and Eliza can brag about that too!

Liza's Driving Lessons

2007-08-01T20:24:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm back in the passenger seat, while another one of my daughters learns to drive. I'm doing well, and Liza has done well. No shouting matches, just gentle corrections, and lots of practice. Lots of brain power for her to learn this new skill.

We've seen a lot of our neighborhood today, and Liza is getting the hang of driving pretty well. I think we will be doing fine, and will go out tomorrow evening after rush hour to the faster roads.

Working on Beehives and frugality

2007-07-22T19:48:00.000-04:00

The next adventure on my sustainability path is beekeeping. For any and all who know me, that might seem a bit of an interesting change. I don't like getting stung. But I can only recall one sting from a honey bee, and I was about 4 years old then. The numerous other stings I've received have been from yellow jackets, wasps, ground hornets, and bumble-bees. Those stings have all happened when I stumbled into, mowed over, or otherwise disturbed their nests.

I have been reading everything I can about beekeeping. At first it seemed prohibitively expensive, but as I read more, I found something called a Kenyan Top Bar Hive. It seems that this type of hive can be built for very little, and is easy to assemble. So, I found some plans, and modified them to what I want to build, and used Google's Sketchup program to model it. Here is the link to the model. You can look at a sketch of the model, but if you want to view the entire thing, you will need Google's Sketchup program installed. It is free, and really cool.

Anyway, I've started construction of 2 hives. I had some old 2x4s in the shed, and milled them into 98 top bars. I will be using some of these to make into following boards and the rest will be used on the hives themselves. The top bars are what the bees attach the comb to.

I went to Home Depot today to get some of the other hardware and lumber and supplies that I need for the hives. I picked up wood screws, some bolts and nuts (for the legs) and linseed oil, and 2-12" extension clamps (to help glue up the boards). After I got all that, I went looking for lumber. That is when I got disgusted. Home Depot really does charge a lot of $$$ for warped boards, bent, skewed and twisted. I started going through all of them and the more I looked the more disgusted I became. These hives were supposed to be able to be built inexpensively! So, I started to walk around to the other side of the racks. Down by the large saws that Home Depot has, there was a cart with lots of 1x6's that were 10 feet long. There was a sign on the cart that said to buy the wood; it had 2 feet of the end of each board water damaged. Kinda like the truck that had been hauling it didn't put a tarp on the last 2 feet, and it got really wet and just sat. Anyway, I found an associate and found out that they were selling these things for $0.51 a board! I immediately found 14 of the best looking ones and loaded up my cart. Total cost for more wood than I will need to build 4 hives - $7.14. A huge coup for me. Besides, the bees won't care if the wood is a little damaged. And I'm planning on using linseed oil mixed with beeswax on the outside of them anyway. They will get weathered and water damaged eventually anyway. So Wow! Neat and cool! It really can be advantageous to look around, and not just settle on the first thing you see. And if I have boards left over, I can still use most of them anyway on nicer projects.
I love those frugal deals.
When I got home I told Mary of what I had found, she asked if I wanted to go back and get the rest of it. I didn't go back, because I don't have a place to store that much lumber here at the house. I can't keep it dry either. So I didn't go back for more. I reckon that some other people need a chance to share the bounty of that great deal.

I will get to work building the beehive bodies later this week. And the total cost of the wood so far - about $13 - counting the 2x4s I had already milled into top bars. Not bad.

Buddhist story

2007-07-20T17:27:00.001-04:00

An email story that has been going around -

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend, who was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend. One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. She could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying - “Just take care of my eyes dear.” People often change when their status and that of others who care for them change. Only a few remember who was there for us during terrible times.

We will never know how much others sacrifice for us,
while we hanker on how much we sacrifice for others. - Stonepeace

2007-07-12T08:53:00.000-04:00

Toilet Repair.

The downstairs toilet leaked. Mary had turned the water off to it, and I had to figure out why it was leaking. So, I checked it out, and found that the flapper needed replacement. So off to the hardware store. Back after the trip to get the toilet working again. Replaced flapper, and fiddled with chain length and finally got it working so that it wouldn't stay "open" after the flush. I have kids, and they usually don't hang around after they flush to "jiggle the handle" if the toilet tank doesn't fill. So I got it working, and now it isn't leaking. About 15 minutes of fiddle time, and 45 trip time. Lucky me. One small victory in the battle of home ownership.

Table Saw

2007-07-08T13:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I purchased a table saw. I am planning on building things around the house, and using one of these will make these tasks much easier. I spent about 3 hours putting it together, making sure that it was all set up correctly and such, then I got to actually turn it on!

I spent another 2 hours making pusher stick, pusher block, rail fence extension, and feather boards.

I'll be sawing things now!

This morning I went out to pick raspberries before it got too hot. I came back with 3 large quart containers full, and put them directly into the freezer. They will keep there for a good long time. Berries for lots of things to come. And I never got out of the neighborhood today. I'll go out again later this week and try to pick some blackberries at the college.

Mary returns from Colorado and niece and nephew watching. She had fun, but I think it may have worn her out. And to think, some women wait until their 40's to even start families. Wow.
Love you Mary, and I'm sure that Beck is happy that you did this for her.

Restful Weekend.

2007-07-01T18:56:00.000-04:00

I had one of those.

I didn't do much of anything that was scheduled, planned or otherwise anticipated. Down time. Free to do whatever struck my fancy.

So, I baked a couple of logs. Yep, that's right, baked them. It was a small piece of oak branch, and an inch thick slab sawn off of a bigger log. After they were baked in a 300 degree F. oven for about an hour, I took them out to cool. I then drilled holes in them to attach them so that the slab would be on the bottom, and the oak stick/log would be upright. After all of that (and 3 deck screws to make sure it stayed together) I rescued my poor dieing dendrobium orchid. It was a victim of over watering. I left it in the pot for too long and the bark was breaking down and suffocating it. Anyway, I tied a patch of sphagnum moss to the oak log, then set about tying the orchid to the log, careful to not kill what few roots were left.
This I do for fun!

Anyway, the orchid should do much better now that it won't rot. (I treated all of the trimmed root ends with an anti-fungal/bacterial - cinnamon.) I will have to make sure that the orchid gets watered often, and check to make sure it is growing well. Hopefully it will live. If not, I'll have to try again!

That was Saturday's big project. Ok, little project. The community college had fireworks Saturday night, and that was a good show, since we live only 10 walking minutes from there. Mary and I went with a neighbor and had a fine time. Oddly, neither twin wanted to go... Hmmm. Are they growing up?

Sunday was spent reading and generally goofing off. I did get a few loads of laundry done, and some beans planted and gardens watered, but aside from that... just a relaxing July 1st!

Next week: Work at paying job for 2 days, Tuesday evening send Mary to Colorado to take care of her sister's kids while her sister goes to Africa on business, no work on Wednesday, work 2 more days, then have another weekend. Life is good!

Summer Vacation

2007-06-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

My family and I went to Orlando for Mary's family reunion.

We had a wonderful time staying in rented houses and visiting with all of the siblings, kids, cousins and uncles and such. Really good to be with those folks.

I have one brother, and Mary has 3 brothers and a sister. That makes for much different family dynamics! Mary calls it "critical mass". When my family gets together, we just never get to that point, because there just aren't enough of us. But Mary's family gets there quickly! It is always a good time to hang out with them.

We did some of the "touristy" things. My thing this year was going to Epcot Center. I've been wanting to go since it opened, but this was the year that I got to go. We also went to Weeki Wachee Springs. That was pretty cool. It was a kinda interesting show, the kids seemed to enjoy it, and we then all went to Buccaneer Bay (the waterpark area) and had some fun on the water slides and swimming in the fresh water. Really nice.

Most of the rest of the time we spent hanging out at the house, watching the kids swim and just being together. Really good family reunion.

We got back home last night after about 16 hours in the car. We did stop a few times for breaks, and meals, but overall it was driving. I much preferred the driving all day coming home to the driving all night going down there, but that is just me. Driving all night did make it so that Mary could spend more time with her family, and less time spent resting in a hotel. Mary was fantastic, and did take her turns driving. I couldn't have done it all myself, especially driving all night. Daytime driving is easier for both of us, I think.

Nice scooter ride

2007-06-15T20:44:00.000-04:00

So I had some time this Friday evening. So I hopped on the scooter and took a ride. I made it to downtown Annapolis, out to Crownsville on General's Highway, and up 3 to Veteran's Highway, to Benfield Road and then back down Old County Road. Not a lot of miles, but lots of nice back roads and fun curves and stuff. It was a good ride after dinner.

When I got home, I pittled around the gardens. I pruned this bush, and clipped that plant, tugged out a few weeds, and plucked some pachysandra from around the paths, trimmed another bush, clipped back some trees limbs, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather.
Our summer and winter squashes are growing well. The potatoes and such are doing well also.

I'm excited about the upcoming Florida trip. Looks like we are going to have a beautiful weekend before we go.

I don't know what I'll get into tomorrow, but I think some laundry will get done, then packing for our trip.

The Rain Barrels are Full!

2007-06-12T19:08:00.000-04:00

I've been enjoying the rain this afternoon. The storm came about 5 pm, plenty of time to enjoy the rain. It did water the garden quite well, and filled up the half-full barrels. We are topped up now both in the ground water and the barrels. That is so cool! The pond too is almost to the top as well. We've put it out to our friends (and the Universe) in general that we would like some frogs for the pond. We have one little frog, but that seems to be it.

I have damp clothes now from walking around the house in the light rain. I couldn't wait to check out the yard! I'm so excited with everything, and how well it is growing.

We had some of the environmentally conscious Friends over for a garden tour last evening. They seemed much impressed with what we've done here. They didn't seem to believe me when I said that it was fun, and not too much work. I also tried to tell them that I have been working in this general direction of soil building for the last 3 years. It shows too. There aren't many places we can did out in the gardens where we don't disturb many earthworms at a time. I demonstrated that to the Friends last night, and they were impressed! Since some still have yards, lawns and such, use chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) and have managed to kill off most of their worms, and beneficial insects.

With this rain, the slugs will come out and give us a chance to do some slug picking. I've noticed that the slugs don't bother the plants that are growing in wild profusion! Just the little ones we would like to eat later.

I planted 2 pounds of cover crop seed - White clover since I read Masanobu Fukuoka's interview in Mother Earth News Archives. I really like the internet. Anyway, he said to use white clover as a cover crop, and an inter-crop because it was the best one he had tried. So I went out on Saturday and put 2 pounds of seed around, and have been waiting for the rain to come... and grow our clover. Even the asparagus beds will have clover soon! The asparagus will come up over/through it and will be even healthier. If the clover gets out of hand, I'll just chop it off and let it be worm-food! If I want to plant other things, I'll just pull out some clover, plant the new plant or seeds and let them go. It will be a wild experiment by far.

Anyway, I'm excited because it rained. I'm excited because of the garden growing so well (the strawberries were fantastic! and more are still coming.) I'm excited to be alive. But most of all, I'm excited to be Mary's.

Garden Still Grows

2007-06-10T10:21:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I blogged. Mary has hit the big points in our lives. As for me, I'm still working, and it seems as if 8 hours a day is way too much work!

I look forward to coming home and being with family, friends, and of course the garden. Which is growing very well.

We've had some learning curve problems, like getting some of the seedlings to grow. Seems most of the leaf crops aren't growing very well in the new beds... I think the worms need longer to get them ready for us.

The trees are growing fine, and the kiwis, grapes and fig all are coming along.

We've had lots of fresh strawberries, and they are very good right out of the patch! Peas off the vines are excellent too! I've got carrots, beets, turnips and daikon radish growing in the front and side yards. Mary had beans growing in "TeePee Alley" aka the side yard.

Grow well, all.

Weekend Update

2007-04-23T20:43:00.000-04:00

Gardening. Trellis building actually. One huge Kiwi trellis done. It is 22' X 8' X 8' high. Hopefully plenty of room for those kiwis to grow and fruit.

I planted apple trees, Asian pears, and a passion flower vine. I planted fingerling potatoes, and ginger roots. The weather outside was beautiful, and I very much enjoyed the entire weekend. It was relaxing and fulfilling at the same time. The gardens are really coming together well. I will probably plant the remaining Asian pear and the Seckle pear tomorrow. That leaves the grapes and Kiwis yet to plant. Oh, and the fig tree. I haven't quite figured out what kind of trellis I want to have the grapes on yet, and Mary wants to help me figure that out, so I'm waiting for her to get back.

Not much else happened this weekend.

My %&@*# $0.02 worth!

2007-04-17T19:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I don't get angry easily. Anger is an emotion that really doesn't do anyone any good. Especially me.

But these mass killings by crazy people are getting to me.

I also realize that I'm more likely to be killed in a simple traffic accident than gunned down while sitting at a school, gas station, or restaurant. But still, why are we continuing to let this go on?

Because we haven't got any idea how to stop it! Our so called experts hem and haw over Second Amendment rights, the NRA says "You'll have to pry my gun out of my cold dead fingers," and the pacifists say, "if we didn't have guns, there wouldn't be mass shootings."
Ok, so what is the answer? We have a Columbine High School, or a Virginia Tech, or a small Amish school, or 2 snipers in the D.C. area, or workplace killings where lots of people are killed for no good reason. There are others I could mention, but you get the idea. How many more people will live in fear of being on the receiving end of a whacked-out person living their very own First-Person-Shooter fantasy? Apparently all of us!

I have an idea of a solution, one that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Since there are over 300 million, yes MILLION, hand guns in the United States, we aren't going to be getting rid of them any time soon. We will continue to endure gun murders, mass shootings, assassinations, and crimes of passion committed by ordinary people who have become desensitized about killing, death and murder. How did they become that way? Many ways... Network news, War, violent video games, violent movies, violent TV shows, local crimes, poverty, road rage... Need I go on? Somehow American society has become fascinated with killing, death and murder. And I'm not blaming the media, they only give us more of what we ask for... or what we seem to be watching to sell advertising.

How do we stop the killing? According to the politicians, the NRA, and just about everyone else I've talked to, we don't. We endure it. And we will have to continue to endure massacre after massacre.

Well here's my radical little idea to at least change the odds:

Since we can't take the hand guns away from law-abiding U.S. citizens or (il)legal immigrants, crooks, gang-bangers, felons, convicted murderers etc., (remember there are 300 million of them in our peace-loving country) why not just ensure that everyone has one? Oh, and that everyone knows how to use them. How hard could it be? After all, we have programs now to feed the hungry or poor, and train them to better themselves. So why not government gun use programs? Government gun issue? Since our governments, police forces, vigilante groups and home-grown militias can't stop one person with a death wish, why not have everyone carry hand guns for protection? And change the laws that will allow you to be absolved of any wrongdoing if you "shoot back." Why not government training programs for the masses on how to keep, shoot, clean, and maintain a hand gun? How much money would that take away from the ill-fated Iraq/Afghanistan (soon to be Iran if we "stay the course") war?

I predict that in the first few years of mandatory hand gun laws we would have a lot of people killed. There would be a swift societal change. We U.S Citizens would still have our precious Second Amendment right to bear arms, and quite swiftly we would have a very well-mannered society. After all, if you ticked the wrong person off, they could shoot you. Let's not forget that women are usually better shots than men, and we would have to respect them as well... Instant ERA, eh Ladies?
Everyone would be able to carry at any time. That would make the air plane hijackers wary, wouldn't it? They might be able to crash a plane, but they would be full of bullet holes before they did!
Also if people carried everywhere, everywhere would be protected, wouldn't it? Always lethal force around to protect ourselves.

Let's look at the bright side, after about 5 to 10 years, the good people of the U.S. would have weeded out the crazy people who want to kill others, and if someone did try to pull a massacre, there would be plenty of people in the crowd who would shoot back. Much less loss of life. If after the first or second person was shot, 15 people returned fire, well, the numbers of dead and wounded would be less anyway. Oh, and lots of savings of tax-payer dollars from not having to prosecute and jail these crazy people.

Even the pacifists who don't want to carry a gun would be able to make that choice, just as they do now. All they have to do is act like they are carrying and who would know differently?

I don't really want to carry a gun. It isn't in my nature to want to. Just the way I am. But do I want to live in a safe society? Yes. Is America safe? No. Will it ever be safe? No. Was it ever safe? No. What do I tell my children when they ask why our government can't keep us safe from ourselves? Well, in the United States, the people ARE the government, and there is no safety from ourselves.
Sleep tight kids.

Another section of Sheet Mulch

2007-04-14T18:58:00.000-04:00

I spent a good while today doing more sheet mulching.
It is really neat how all of that material goes in, and eventually I'll have rich dark loamy topsoil to grow things in! Amazing.

I worked from about 7:30 this morning until 1:30, taking breaks for lunch and snacks. It looks really good, and when Mary gets back from visiting Liza, I'll take a picture for you!

Yesterday I got the granny-smith apple tree planted, and the six thornless blackberries. I hope they make it! They looked half dead, but then again, they are ship in dormant states. I also got 35 or so asparagus plants tucked into the ground. We should have a good area of asparagus in the next couple of years. Yummy!

The garden is really coming along. I'm so happy with the way things are turning out. It is amazing that the work I've done previously on the perennials has the garden beautiful already, and it was work that I don't have to do again! Yeah! Now I have to get the materials for the kiwi trellis and get that going before the kiwi get here. Always something to do, eh?

I've been enjoying being lazy and reading for the rest of the afternoon. I did manage to get to the commissary and get the cereals that the kids asked for. I hope they enjoy it! Super sweet sugar coated sugar! Not what I want to be eating.

Why I chose a vegan diet

2007-04-07T10:21:00.000-04:00

I've been vegetarian for over 5 years now, with the most part of that eating a vegan diet.

First some definitions. Vegetarians eat NO meat, this includes no chicken and no fish, but they can (and usually do) eat dairy products; e.g. eggs and milk products.

Vegans eat no animal products at all. No meat, dairy or fish. Only plant based foods. Jokingly stated as, "No food with a mother or a face."

I began my vegetarian journey after seeing my mother in the intensive care of the cardiac unit of the hospital. She had just undergone a quadruple heart bypass surgery, and was "in recovery". I saw how she was out of it due to the medications for pain, and the after affects of the surgery. I silently vowed that I would not wind up on a similar table suffering through that kind of surgery. I have since learned that with those kinds of surgeries, that brain damage due to low blood flow to the brain almost always occurs. My mother suffered a drug-induced psychosis also, that caused her to feel extremely paranoid and trapped.

My "quest" began.

I am a young man, just 40, but at the time of my mother's surgery was 35, and about 35 pounds heaver than I wanted to be. I was serving in the Air Force, and the culture of the Air Force is accepting of older NCO's (Non-Commissioned Officers) having a "bigger gut", and heavier frame. So I was always on the edge of failing my weigh-ins, and had difficulty passing my physical fitness tests. I took up cycling to improve my health and lost some of the weight, but didn't seem to lose very much weight, even though I got into much better physical shape.

So when I saw my mother in ICU, I knew I had to learn how to NOT wind up where she was. I turned to the Internet. I read everything I could find on heart disease, nutrition and how to reduce my chances of getting heart disease. I found information that vegetarian diets were better for preventing heart disease, so I immediately began paring down my meat consumption. I was a huge meat eater, having been raised thinking that I needed as much protein as I could get. I had always like vegetables, just not as main dishes. After about 2 months I reduced down to just "meat flavored meals." I commented on this to one of my friends, who said, "Why not just go vegetarian?" So I did.

After about 3 weeks of eating vegetarian meals I cooked myself, from recipes found on various vegetarian websites I was not feeling that great. I had made a mistake that some beginning vegetarians make, I substituted dairy products for meat. I was still experiencing gastronomical distress, heartburn, cycles of diarrhea and constipation, and nasal congestion however. So after reading Sabrina Nelson's article on her change to a vegan diet, I decided to give up the dairy and eggs. That was the key. It was also difficult at first, because I was still worried about the "protein myth". After a few short days of vegan meals, my bowels settled down to regularity, my heartburn went away, and my nasal congestion completely disappeared. No more antacids for me! I never lost strength, only the tired feeling I used to have after meals.

I felt HEALTHY! I felt amazingly well. I had even more energy to ride my bike, I was able to keep up with the "fast" riders on my club rides, and best of all, was the regular sleep! I even improved my mandatory Air Force run times!

So on I went with my vegan diet/strict vegetarian eating until I found Dr. Walford's website. He was also featured on Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda. Dr. Walford was one of the scientists who was a part of the Biosphere 2 crew and witnessed how high nutrient, low calorie food affects humans. Dr. Walford commented that caloric restriction extends the health of mice and other mammals. Also that healthy low calorie, high nutrient food was key to a human's good health. So I slowed down my use of oil and refined sugars. I cut out drinking soda, and switched to water.

My weight simply evaporated. I ate whatever I wanted, that was nutrient rich and low in fat. My energy remained the same, HIGH! I tried to reduce my calories to about 60% of what I had been eating, and my energy levels went through the roof. I often hear people comment that they wish they had the energy that their 3, 4 or 5 year-olds have. I have that energy, and I'm willing to tell them how they can get it too!

Later on in my readings on the Internet, I found Dr. McDougall's website, which is dedicated to treating heart disease (and other nutrition associated ailments) through diet. He backed up all of the things I had figured out on my own with scientific evidence, and evidence from his own patients. Dr. McDougall also suggests that auto-immune diseases such as Lupus and Rheumatoid arthritis can be cured with a plant-based, whole foods diet that is low in fat. Also all of the "over nutrition" diseases that so many westerners suffer from because of our rich diets. I have noticed that my joints no longer hurt (I've been quite active and had broken some bones that always hurt after they healed, until I went vegan.) My elbow still gives me trouble when I use it too much, or the weather is going to change, but the constant pain has gone.

Now, I'm not perfect, I occasionally have a meal that has high amounts of oil in it, but usually don't feel well after them. I go back to eating my grains and vegetables and balance returns. It is amazing how well the body heals when you supply it with the nutrition it needs to thrive. I don't consider these meals setbacks, but temporary detours on my road to good health. I remind myself that my goal is to be healthy and able during my latter years, and hopefully I have lots more of those to look forward to. Quality of life is very important to me. And being a vegan, eating a variety of whole, plant-based foods has made feel the best since I was in high school.

I've talked to many people who don't believe that just following a vegan diet can "cure" so many of the medical conditions Dr. McDougall claims. I can't say that my diet will make everyone feel better, but I surely can recommend that they try it and see. Is 12 days too long to see if something will make you feel better? So many people have the initial reaction of "Oh, I could never give up meat and dairy!" or "I couldn't live without cheese!" I have a moment of sadness for them at that point, because I realize that they are dooming themselves to continued problems and deteriorating health for the rest of their lives! And it doesn't have to be that way. I try to simply smile and accept their choice, as I give them the information that they aren't ready to hear yet. What helps me accept their choices, is the hope that maybe they did hear me a little bit, and when they are tired of suffering, tired of being overweight, tired of being tired, they will give this lifestyle a try, and experience good health for themselves.

Quite a few people, friends and even some members of my own family are skeptical of this lifestyle choice. They often are either combative about it, or consider me arrogant for trying to let them know how much good this change has done for me. So I try to only talk to them about it if I'm asked. I'm happy to talk about it with people, but don't want to appear forceful in my enthusiasm for this way of life. It is so very difficult to remain silent when I see so many people suffering, and I might be able to help them help themselves by giving them this knowledge.

Stats:

My starting cholesterol was around 199 when I was 35. At my last physical two years ago it was under 130. I've cut most fat and oil out of my diet, and have never felt better, stronger, or healthier!

A Buddhist Recycling Story

2007-03-30T07:16:00.000-04:00

Here is a story of how a disciple of the Buddha called Ananda taught a King a lesson on the importance of mindful sharing - not only with one's personal wealth, but also of the wealth of the Earth's resources. This is also the classic Buddhist story of "recycling" our blessings in life, of treasuring whatever we have.

Once upon a time in ancient India, there lived a selfish King and his generous Queen. One day, they received news of the Buddha having arrived at one of their kingdom's villages. As the Queen very much wished to seek the advice of the Buddha, she invited Him and His followers to visit the palace.

After spending an entire day listening to the Buddha's wonderful teachings, the Queen felt that she should offer the Buddha's following a worthy gift as a token of her great appreciation. Accepting the offer, the Buddha asked Ananda to receive the Queen's gift, which was a big bag of gold. As joyous and giving as she was, she had much confidence that the wise disciples of the Buddha would put it to good use. However, when the King heard about his wife's gift, he became very suspicious of how it would be handled. Thinking that Ananda must have tricked the Queen into giving him so much gold, he called for Ananda to question him. The King asked, "What are you going to do with so much money?" Ananda replied, "I will go to the market and buy all the cloth that we can carry."

"But what'll you do with all the cloth?" "We'll sew five hundred suits of clothes."
"But what'll you do with the new clothes?" "We'll give them to the many villagers dressed in rags."
"But what'll you do with their old clothes?" "We'll make them into new quilts."
"But what'll you do with the old quilts?" "We'll make them into new pillows."
"But what'll you do with the old pillows?" "We'll make them into new rugs."
"But what'll you do with the old rugs?" "We'll make them into new doormats."
"But what'll you do with the old doormats?" "We'll make them into new brooms."
"But what'll you do with the old brooms?"

"Well, Your Highness, we will take them apart and use them for plastering the walls of our houses - to strengthen them. Praise to the Queen! All these blessings for so many are made possible only with the generosity of Her Highness. In this way, Your Highness, everything that comes to each of us, no matter how great or small it is, should be used thoughtfully and thoroughly with great care and purpose. Nothing is really ours to own forever, since everything we have in the Universe are like temporary gifts lent for our use. Therefore, whenever possible, these gifts should be shared. May all be mindful of this in the passage of life. And may all treasure and share their blessings with each other." Hearing these thought-provoking words, the King bowed in repentance and reverence, thereby resolving to be a more giving and caring King. - Shen Shi'an (retold)

Why I chose environmental practice instead of environmental activism

2007-03-27T08:10:00.000-04:00

Why I chose environmental practice instead of environmental activism

By James Kniskern

It started innocently enough. I began reading about the average American family using more resources than any other family in the world. I was intrigued. I had heard that even poor Americans were richer in material wealth than a large percentage of the world population.

I had visited a website that describes how many earth's worth of resources would be required if ALL of the populations of the world lived as the average American did. I took the quiz and found that we would need 3.5 earths of resources to support ALL of the population of the planet if everyone lived as I did. That was an eye opener. Some friends around me did better, some much worse!

Environmental action has always been of interest to me. Even when the U.S. Government banned DDT due to the loss of eagles, and other birds, I thought it was a good thing.

My voice was silent at that time due to my age. I watched from the sidelines as those labeled "Tree Huggers", "Hippies", and with a sneer of the right wing, "environmentalists" stood in the way of logging, land development, watershed destruction, dam building, and parking lot construction. I remained quiet, but respectful of those souls who acted on what they believed, even to the detriment of American jobs. I mean, saving snail darter fish, and spotted owls can't be more important that putting a few thousand people to work, can it? Yes it can, and it does actually make for a better life for all Americans, even if a few have hardships for a period of time.

During the last few years, as I moved around the world, noticed traffic affects on forests, urban sprawl heating up cities, wildfires raging in the west (some in Arizona while I was there,) ice sheets shrinking, glaciers receding, warm weather during the winters, hurricanes killing more and causing billions in damage, I had to take stock in what could the underlying answer be to all of this? Human use of resources and lack of putting things back where we found them, I think.

So I began to learn how I could make a difference.

I also took it upon myself to try to do things that would make it less hypocritical for me to speak on. I advocate for doing lots of small stepts in my environmental changes, because I've take many small steps myself. I can and do make a difference by making these lifestyle choices. Will it make a difference in the long run if I'm the only one that makes these changes? No. But here is the rub: Since I've made these changes, I know how easy it is, and can lead the way for others to make similar choices.

I don't want to force people to use greywater, or composting toilets, or sawdust toilets, or become vegetarians, or plant vegetable gardens, or anything else. But if the world doesn't begin to change its ways, we really are mortgaging our descendants futures.

More garden work

2007-03-25T19:25:00.000-04:00

I started working in the garden early. It was a beautiful bright, sun-shiny day! Mary enjoyed the sun too!

I cleaned out the last of the compost from the right-most bin, and put down 24 inches of grass, leaves, and chopped up pieces of old bush back in. That got it ready for starting the new compost cycle. The plant material becomes the biological sponge, that will keep anything from leaching into the ground water over the next 2 years. We'll add to the right pile for the next year, then let it rest for then next year. The old left bin is full, and has now been "retired" for the next year. Next April, we will have a huge bin of compost ready to put on the gardens.

After we took Samuel to his dad's house, we noticed that Mary was too hungry to go to church, so we went back home for lunch. We had a lovely meal together on the back patio, enjoying the sun. After lunch we went to Clement's Hardware. We needed fencing materials for Mary's potato beds, as well as something for the thornless blackberries to grow on. We wound up getting some 6 foot steel posts, and stringing wire on them to support the blackberries.

So we spent the beautiful afternoon preparing potato beds, building the blackberry supports and generally working in the gardens. I put the clothesline back up straight after it had been blown down 2 weeks ago. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Miriam stayed over at Tori's place last night, but Tori was so tired, she fell asleep early. Miriam enjoyed her sister time, and we got to see Tori when she dropped Miriam back home. Tori seems to be doing extremely well.

Samuel had a camp out with scouts Friday night, and didn't get much sleep, since there were some very loud scouts that wouldn't let the rest get to sleep. I hope he had a good time!

We got another load of manure to fertilize the gardens, but that was around dinner time, so I haven't had a chance to do any spreading with it. Later, I guess.

It has been so nice outside, I had the scooter out after dinner. I'm planning on riding it to work tomorrow!

Mary got wood chips for me!

2007-03-24T17:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, another neighbor had a couple of trees taken down, and Mary called to ask me if I wanted wood chips. I said yes. So, I got home from work, and the driveway was filled with freshly ground wood chips. 101 wheelbarrow loads later, and the chips were nicely stacked, ok, piled up in the back fence area. We have plenty of chips for paths, mulching and such now.

I'm kinda tired after all that work, but it is well worth it, in so many ways. Exercise for me, and free organic material for the gardens.

Mary ordered our trees and grapes and kiwi vines today. I have to get the trellises built for the vines.

Our edible landscaping is going well.

Volunteering: Habitat For Humanity

2007-03-10T17:29:00.000-05:00

Today Mary and I volunteered to work at a local Habitat for Humanity house. We got there at 8 am this morning. We were to be on the painting crew.

First we met the other volunteers, and had our assignments. First off Mary and I were on cleanup of the outside of the house, as the Wednesday crew was dealing with snow, and didn't get it tidied up. So we worked for about 40 minutes picking up bits and pieces, and then scattering straw on the muddy bits.
Mary then found the "tool shed" that needed neatening up. She spent the next while doing that, while I went on doing this and that.
I wound up doing lots of little things, prepping for painting. Caulking doors and windows. Then I grabbed the big roller, and painted the kitchen/dining room/living room ceiling. That was fun. By then it was lunch time, and we had a nice lunch, all the while talking with the other volunteers.
After lunch, we were painting the trim and doors. We had plenty to do, and worked the rest of the afternoon on that. Both Mary and I were about wiped out, and left a little early. We didn't want to over do it.
So it was a productive and worthwhile day.

Environmental Small Steps - continue

2007-03-08T19:41:00.000-05:00

I had sent my Environmental Small Steps to the Quakers, and had it published in their March newsletter. That was cool. I also had a Friend ask me to forward it on to her, so that the local Sierra Club could publish it also. That would make a much wider audience that has been able to see the small things that we've done here.

We don't hand wash our laundry, and we don't cut back to the point where we are causing hardships to ourselves, but we have made many steps to making the world a better place. Now if we could just get more people to realize that these steps are easy and sometimes fun to make... But that will come. I'm sure that not everyone will take the environmental steps, but more and more people will. As the cost of fuels goes up, conservation will happen, but it will have to get to a point where it hurts the wallet not to conserve. That is the key to the whole thing, I believe, make it sexy to conserve. When that happens, America and the rest of the world will go along. Until that day, I'm satisfied to make each day a little lighter on our Mother.

A challenge accepted:

2007-03-04T16:34:00.000-05:00

It must be difficult being a 14 year-old girl.

Miriam refused to do the dishes. Mary asked her to do them, but it was a nice day on Friday, the "first nice day", said Miriam. Miriam wanted to go outside and go to a friend's house, but had kept on telling us that she would get the dishes done. The problem was that Miriam would be going to her Dad's house in less than 2 hours, and if she didn't get the dishes done, Mary and I would be stuck doing the dishes, again. She balked. She screamed, cried, and protested.
Mary calmly explained the facts: If she didn't get the dishes done, there would be consequences. Mary said that if the dishes weren't done by the time Miriam was to leave for her Dad's house, then we would clean her room for her, and she wouldn't like what happens if we clean her room.

That was a huge consequence. Mary and I thought that we could clean up Miriam's room in a couple of hours, no big deal.

So Miriam kept on protesting, saying that she needed 5 minutes to get a hold of herself, and continued to cry. Mary called Miriam's step-mother, Shannon, and explained the situation, and they agreed that Miriam could stay here longer to get the dishes done.

After the deadline of 6 pm, which is when Miriam should have left for the other household, Mary and I began the arduous task of cleaning the girl's bedroom. Miriam did not stay in the house, and went outside to "get a hold of herself." Long story short, by 9 pm, dishes still weren't done, and we drove Miriam over to her Dad's house.

Mary and I continued to clean the room. It turned into a weekend project. We found 12 boxes of books, more clothes than 4 girls need, and trash strewn about the room. Miriam had also stashes of candy and food hidden in her room, and that provides a health hazard. I took it upon myself to get her laundry cleaned. 9 loads of laundry. Mary and I finished up about 3:30 Sunday. It was not the easiest thing to do, since we had to figure out places to put all of the stuff. We took out several bags of paper for recycling, and many more trash bags. Other items are stored either in the crawlspace or the attic.

What Miriam is going to have to deal with tonight when she comes home is a "shopping" trip. Mary has folded and sorted all of the clothes taken out of Miriam's room. She will be allowed to choose 10 tops, 10 bottoms, 10 bras/camisoles, 10 pairs of socks, 10 panties, 4 sweaters/sweatshirts, 2 dresses, 1 heavy coat, 1 jacket, concert shirt, PE uniforms, and 2 swimsuits. There will be additional shopping if she handles the first section well: She will be able to pick more, 10 tops, 5 bottoms, and another swimsuit and dress to be earned back by keeping the first batch neat. This will allow Miriam to learn to keep her room clean, without all of the clutter that was stopping her before.
So Miriam has the opportunity to earn some of her clothes back, as well as adding a few of the "most precious" items that have been removed. Since Mary and I don't know what those items are, Miriam will be able to earn a few items back every 2 weeks that she keeps her room clean. But if she leaves the house with "gear adrift" as they say in the Navy, she will lose that gear, and not get to earn it back.
Mary and I will not allow the kind of mess that her room became to happen again. Neither of us has the time or energy to clean that room again like we did this time. So if there is clutter, messiness and "gear adrift" on the floor, then it will go away, and Miriam won't have to worry about having too much stuff.

So I'm sure this particular parenting adventure will be the subject of many books in Miriam's writing future. If nothing else, she will have ample things to talk with her psychiatrist about when she is in her 30's.

Weekend Update:

2007-02-25T17:24:00.000-05:00

Mary and I had an enjoyable day yesterday... er, wait. I had an enjoyable day yesterday, working outside, cutting down the ornamental grasses, and getting them up to the compost pile, taking out the big bush that will be replaced this spring by a Fig tree, and generally playing outside. Meanwhile my beautiful wife was doing taxes! Not really fun for her, but she wanted to do it, and I sure do appreciate her for doing it. The best way to support Mary while she is doing taxes is to bring her a cup of tea once in a while, but basically keep away from her and don't distract her.
I also swept up the wood chips that we laid down during the ice storm. Because, they were calling for more ice on Sunday. But we were lucky, we got 3-4 inches of snow! It is absolutely beautiful. After the taxes were done, Mary and I worked on plans for a trellis for the kiwi vines we are wanting to plant. It will take some doing, so planning is essential.

Mary cleaned off the car, and shoveled the driveway while I was baking fat-free corn chips. I went out after I was done, and cleaned off my car, and shoveled it out, and cleaned up the little bit of snow that had collected after Mary had finished. Anyway we got that done.

Tori came over today, and she was the proud recipient of a new rice cooker! She had been wanting one, and Mary and I got out about a week ago and picked one up for her. She seemed very pleased and surprised that we had got that for her. Happy Valentine's Day! (Family joke.)
The funny thing was, I had hidden it in plain sight, and she missed it when she came through the front door.

Mary is talking with Eliza in Hungary. Eliza seems to be doing well, and enjoying herself.

I finished 2 books this weekend. The first was Sidney Poitier's The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography and the second was Hunters of Dune, the seventh installment in Frank Herbert's classic Dune series. And for following those I'm reading Dr. Esselstyn's book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. That last one is the most interesting of all! He details how to prevent and even better, REVERSE heart disease!

That is the news I have for now.

Taking care of neighbors

2007-02-20T17:41:00.000-05:00

So the winter storm knocked several limbs down out of the trees. Our neighbors up the street are elderly, and he has a heart condition and can't work like he used to. So I mustered up the kids on Saturday morning, and we got a great deal of the limbs cut into firewood lengths and picked up. There was more to do after our initial 2 hours of work on Saturday, we had some more to do, so went back on Monday (kids and I had Presidents Day off.) We got it all done, and I brought the firewood back here and stacked it up. (They don't build fires anymore, and said we could have all we could carry!) Paul and Nancy were very surprised that we would do something like that for them without being asked.

Snow is melting now and we guess that the groundhog might have been right!

Snow, Ice, Freezing Rain!

2007-02-15T19:40:00.000-05:00

We had it all. And then the winds came. We lost power yesterday, Valentine's Day, at about 8:12. Miriam told us it was 8:12 when her radio stopped radio-ing. Anyway, I got up (I was already excused from work due to the freezing rain) and started a fire in the fireplace. I was determined to keep us from freezing to death for however long it took, or until we ran out of firewood.
We had a lovely Valentine's Day. More on that later. Anyway we played games with the kids, read books, and generally enjoyed each other's company. All the while keeping the fire roaring along. Mary and I went for a walk around the neighborhood, just as the temperature fell down below freezing yesterday evening. We found several downed trees and such around the neighborhood, but mostly just branches and small stuff Most of the largest trees were taken down last winter, and I guess there weren't many ready to come down this winter. We looked in on a few of our elderly neighbors, and made sure that they had things under control. The kids made S'mores over the fire.
The kids slept in the living room, on our lovely Persian rug in their sleeping bags. Unfortunately the kids let the fire go out during the night, and it was very chilly this morning. I got up and got the fire started, but we had lost ground during the night. It never really got up above chilly all day. We were wearing many layers of clothes and the wonderful knit caps that Mom made for all of us. We bundled up, and stayed warm.
Work was delayed by 4 hours today, and I went in around 10:30. I had made soup before I went in, and it was finished when I got home.
BG&E had the power restored by about 5:45. That made for a long time without power. Each time something like this happens, it only makes me more determined to be self sufficient on the energy front, at least the household things like heat, power, and hot water.
We were very lucky, none of our trees lost any big branches, and the garden is safely put to bed under the snow and ice. I will have to take the tiger grass down, and toss it on the compost heap after the snow melts.

About Valentine's Day surprise:
Last weekend, when Mary went on her retreat, I had lots of time to plan my gifts for Mary. Mary had enjoyed the peanut butter fudge I made for Christmas, so I had an idea. Peanut Butter Cups! But better, VEGAN peanut butter cups. So I took semi-sweet vegan chocolate, melted in a bag in the microwave, and set about making peanut butter cups. I was quite proud of how they turned out, and then set off to get a box to make a beautiful presentation to Mary on Valentine's Day. I didn't have any idea that we wouldn't have power for most of it! Anyway, I also made a compilation CD of several love songs that she can listen to when she gets the chance. The funny story is that I could barely wait to give all of this to Mary. I had a really hard time keeping it hidden and not mentioning anything to her. So Tuesday night, I asked her if she wanted her Valentine's Day gift before I left for work, or after I got home. She didn't answer me then. So when my alarm went off, I had called in to work and found out that I didn't have to go in due to the weather, I told Mary I couldn't stand it anymore, so I hopped out of bed, and went and got her the presents. I think she liked them! It was kinda hard to tell, since it was about 5:30 in the morning, and Mary was still sleepy! She said she loves them, and me! Life is good!

Weekend to Myself

2007-02-11T10:32:00.000-05:00

The kids are gone to their other parent's houses. Mary took a weekend religious retreat with Friends, which left me alone to my own devices.

It isn't often that I have so much free time to myself. I remember solitude from my single days, but with a family now that has 5 kids, a beautiful wife, and all of the circle of friends, coworkers, and relations, I really don't get large chunks of alone time. So what did I do?

I watched a few movies that a friend loaned me at work. I took long bath. I went shopping up at the Asian food store, I washed dishes, I finished the book I was reading. I slept in. I stayed up late. I did whatever struck me as interesting at the time. I went to meeting today. I went to Whole Foods to get some Dr. Bronner's Soap and took my time shopping for other stuff, and just checking out the rest of the store, not worrying about how long it takes.

I also have taken some time to just meditate.

What I've learned recently in meditation - I often reflect on my relationship with Kyle, as that is the point of most of my Samsara (suffering) lately. So I have been trying to come to terms with what Kyle is choosing in his life, mainly to distance himself from me and my family here. He choses to spend his time with his mother's family. Anyway, the suffering I've been enduring, while painful, hasn't killed me. So I meditate on it, and try to figure out what to do. Asking the Universe of an answer has brought me this: Letting Kyle go to do what he needs to be happy. Holding Kyle too tightly is the sure way to have him not want to stay. I found this in a meditation site that I view on occasion.

The Difference between Love and Attachment
Tenzin Palmo told a story about her mother's love
as an example of a love that does not bind.

"When I was 19 years old, I wanted to go to India to find a spiritual teacher.
Finally, I got an invitation letter.
I remember running along the road to meet my mother
as she was coming from work and saying to her 'I'm going to India!'

And she replied 'Oh yes dear, when are you leaving?'
Because she loved me, she was happy for me to leave her."

She went on to explain the moral of the story.
"We mistake love and attachment.
We think they are the same thing, but actually, they are opposites.
Love is 'I want you to be happy.'
Attachment is 'I want you to make me happy."'...

Something like that is what I'm hoping to give to Kyle. I love him dearly, but will let him go, to let him be happy.

Today's Meeting concentrated on this attachment theme, even though it isn't really a Quaker teaching. So it was interesting to hear their take on it.

2007-02-06T15:40:00.000-05:00

Mary is going back to school!

She is looking to get another Masters, then on to a PhD. in Sociology. She is very excited about the whole thing, and I'm rooting for her. It means lots of time back in school, but she loves the classroom, and really wants to do some research on her "changing the culture of divorce in America" ideas. So back to school she is planning. She is taking practice GRE tests and has an appointment to get that done next week. She is really enjoying herself. More power to her, I say. It is kind of funny, since I really don't enjoy the classroom stuff, but love to learn, she really likes to do both. More details later on this!

During some the warmer part of the weekend, Sunday afternoon, I worked outside on the trellises for the beans and peas. I received some 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe on Free-cycle to use to keep the wood from rotting, and cut them into 2 foot lengths. I pounded one into the ground, then pulled it out, and pushed the soil out of it and then pushed it back into the ground. I took 2x4s and ripped them with the hand circular saw, so I had 2x2s. I then shaved off the end of the pole enough so that it would fit into the PVC pipe. This will keep the poles up even in strong wind, without having to pour concrete into my garden. Anyway, I then used the saw to nibble off some rabbets for the top poles. These will hold the trellis netting or strings that Mary and I will use for the peas and beans to climb. Anyway we have about 40' of trellis ready to go up, I just have to figure out how tall I want to make them. Then pound in the rest of the sections of pipe, and assemble them. I'm going to drill pilot holes in the tops of the poles, and through the rabbet joints and use a deck screw to hole the top poles on. It should look pretty spiffy when I get it done. But the temperature has just been way too cold to work outside since Sunday. Brrrrrr!

The kids are doing fine, normal school routine.

We've managed to keep the clutter monsters out of the living room

From Jan 2007 livi...

and dining room for a week! We can keep them out longer, I'm sure.

I hope everyone got a chance to at least scan through my environmental steps in my previous blog entry. Mary and I have taken a whole pile of small steps that have resulted in some really huge changes over time. Please consider something that you could do to make a positive change in either habit or health. Positive small steps are easy!

2007-01-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

Environmental Small Steps
by James Kniskern

I'm sure that we will have folks around who would like to take a look at what we are doing. All added up they sound like big things, but they aren't really. Mary and I have just taken many small steps. We put some of those things into action that people may have read about. There are lots of things that we still want to do, but either don't have the time, money, or the solar window to accomplish.

I don't know if there is a list on the internet of things that can be done that are environmentally friendly, but there should be, shouldn't there? Here is a list of the things that Mary and I have done so far. Keep in mind that we tackle things in small batches, and keep working on them until they are done. None of this was done overnight! It takes time. Also it is a matter of changing some habits, and making things work for you!

1. Rain barrels at all 5 downspouts. These were assembled in 5 phases, and I learned how to make them from the internet! And yes, they are made from Rubbermaid 32 gallon trashcans. Each phase of rain barrels got little improvements and tweaks to make it better, so by the time I was installing the fifth set, I got it done in just a couple of hours. We use the water for the gardens around the house. The nice thing is that we don't have to carry water far to water plants.

2. Low flow shower head - low cost item at Home Depot. Reduces water usage by leaps and bounds, but still gives you the feeling of water pounding on you as you shower. It gives plenty of pressure to rinse shampoo out of hair and such. Ours doesn't quite match the other fixtures in the bathroom, but certainly does allow us to save huge amounts of water.

3. Greywater usage: Mary's idea. Catch water in the tub, carry it outside to water plants. We don't do this much in the wintertime, since the plants are sleeping. We do save shower water in 2 buckets next to the toilet to use for flushing. This came about because we have an old house, and didn't want to retrofit the place with more pipes to the outside. Also kids use MUCH less water when they have to carry it outside in buckets. It makes them think about what they are using. Our water consumption dropped to only 5 units per quarter.

We could get much more strict on this, by saving dishwater (no dishwasher in our house, hand washing only) and even saving hand-washing water too. We will probably do this in the spring when we need more water.

4. Electricity - Putting off-and-on-switched power strips on computers, entertainment centers and other things. - Electronic equipment that is in "standby" uses power, just waiting for you to use your remote control. This is essentially wasted power. Ok, so if you want a clock, use a clock that uses wind-up mechanism, or a rechargeable battery. Forget about the clocks in the electronics. They drain power.

5. Compact Florescent Lights (CFL): These are the famous curly bulbs. They save TONS of electricity! When Mary and I married, I started replacing all of the bulbs in her house with these. They are more expensive initially, but save money overall. They pay for themselves. There is something even better, and as of yet more expensive initially : LED lights. They last for 10s of years and use even less energy than CFLs. They take a bit more wiring, as they run on Direct Current (DC) instead of AC. Mary and I haven't moved to these yet, but will when we build our next house.

6. Get rid of the lawn. This took us about 3 years. Plan pathways and plant/flower beds. Make changes in small sections. Did you know that mowing grass using either gas or electric mowers is a fantastic waste of energy, money and time? If you absolutely have to keep some grass, then keep the patch small, only 30-40 square feet, just enough to have some green, or walk on barefoot. This can be easily cut with a rotary push mower, which uses no fossil fuel, and allows exercise too. Remember to let your grass clippings mulch down into the soil to feed your grass. That requires far less fertilizer, which is good for the environment too. Getting rid of the lawn saves hundreds of gallons of water, as well as fossil fuels required to make, transport and clean up fertilizers. The key to getting rid of your lawn is do a little bit at a time, and work toward building the soil. Once you have done this, the system actually takes far less work to maintain. Mary can actually weed the entire front gardens in about a half an hour. This is because we have it so heavily mulched and planted with plants we want, they crowd out the weeds. Planted and mulched garden beds hold more water than shallow rooted lawn grass, keeping much less runoff from leaving your property.

7. Gas mileage - Try to purchase a car with the highest gas mileage possible. Hybrids are better. Full electric if they suit your needs. Most people only travel long distances a few times a year - buy accordingly. I personally found it much more fun to buy a small engined scooter. It gets me to work on warmer days and gets about 80 MPG. So I think I'm doing a bit for global warming, and still having fun at the same time. Of course, it would be better if my job were only 3 miles from home, instead of 18, but I still have to get back and forth.

8. Use of "Bay Friendly" cleaners. This came about not because we wanted to "save the Bay" but because we didn't want to have to have another dry well dug for our septic system. Our first dry well stopped working, and caused a backup of sewage into the house, not a pleasant thing. So I read up on everything not to put into a septic system. Harsh cleaners, bleach, high phosphorus detergents, paint, borax, Epsom salt, and anything else that will kill my beneficial bacteria in the system is forbidden. This has the added benefit of making things biodegradable, and easy to put on the garden, and good for the Bay. It is a selfish reason, and frugal, to be environmentally friendly... It's expensive and smells bad to have septic system problems.

9. Get energy efficient appliances. We are still working on this one. We always shop for the best energy efficient appliances we can afford. Knowing how they will be more cost effective and efficient, makes a slightly more up front cost more bearable. We have to remember that the cost of using the appliance will go in in energy costs later on. Demand quality, efficiency and usability.

10. Hang clothes out on a clothes line. Lines are easy to put up, and clothespins are inexpensive. Even if the clothes are a little damp, 10 minutes in the dryer to finish them up will still save money and energy. We estimate we saved about $300 in the last year by hanging out laundry. As I told a friend recently, if you want softer clothes, use distilled vinegar in the rinse cycle, and tumble the clothes for 5 minutes after they are dry.

11. Drying clothes in the winter: Put a vent on the dryer that will allow moist hot air to be blown into the house instead of outside. Most people with central air have very dry homes. Added humidity makes the house feel warmer, and a load or two of laundry moisture won't make the house feel damp. Also, central heating dries the air in the house anyway. Also, a bit of heat from the dryer is saved, keeping your money from flying out the vent. Our vent can be switched to outside flow in the summer.

12. Water Filters - Simple carbon filter makes water taste better, and also removes some of the chlorine/chloramine/fluoride that is added to water in Maryland.

13. Composting Toilets. Simple to build and use. A bit of a chore, but saves HUGE amounts of drinking water from being flushed away.

14. Weather proof doors and windows. Weather stripping is inexpensive at hardware stores. I'm amazed at the amount of savings from sealing up those doors and windows. It takes a bit of practice to apply, but as my Dad used to say to us kids "Close the door! I'm not heating the entire outdoors!"

15. Install extra insulation in attics, crawlspaces, basements, exterior walls. We are still working on this, and add insulation as we can afford it. Doing it ourselves is least expensive, but again, pays for itself later on. This is equal to putting an extra blanket on the bed, or an extra sweater on when you are feeling cool.

16. Buy locally grown/produced foods. Support your local farmers market. They often have organic foods which are better for you and have traveled much shorter distances. Buying local saves fuel to transport food. Organic foods are higher in nutrients and trace minerals, and have no pesticides. One of my little sayings during sweet corn season, "If it is good enough for the worms, then it is good for me!" I just leave the worm in the pile of husks for the compost bin, cut out the worm eaten bit, and eat the rest of the corn.

17. Eat seasonally grown foods. This works if you garden, and if you don't, patronize those farmer's markets and freeze or can your food for the off season. This is something new for us, and while we are moving in this direction, we still have a good way to go.

18. Eat fewer processed foods. This allows you to be healthier and eat better foods. It has an advantage of allowing you to cook more for yourself at home, and eat recipes you like. Processed foods are packaged with way too much waste wrapping, have been transported way too far, and usually aren't good for you anyway.

19. Eat less meat. It costs enormous amounts of energy and water to feed, transport, and otherwise produce meat for your table. Use less, or for even better health go vegetarian or vegan (animal-derived food free). Reduce dairy and eggs. High energy cost to produce/transport, high health cost of consuming.

20. Lower house temperature in winter. If we are cold, we put a sweater on. We rarely have the house warmer than 66 in the winter. In the summer, our thermostat is set at 78 or 80. If we feel warm, we go outside and spend some time. Then coming inside feels cooler. The advantage is that the AC makes the house drier, so we feel cooler. 80 is pretty cool on a 95 degree day.

21. Wash laundry in cold water. It takes energy to heat water, and clothes get just as clean in cold water too. For extra-soiled clothes, try adding hydrogen peroxide (but not too much) to help your cleaner. Hydrogen peroxide won't harm the septic either.

22. Wash clothes less often. If your clothes aren't dirty, don't wash them after just one wearing. Wear clothes until they are soiled, and need to be washed. Over washing makes clothes age faster. (This works pretty well for adults, but for kids of course, they soil clothes pretty quickly.) I have a set of "gardening clothes" that I put on to garden in. This keeps my other clothes cleaner longer. (Undershirts and underwear are worn for a day, then washed.)

Things we are planning to do in our next home:

All of the above things plus:

Solar water heater

Solar panels - either selling power to power company or going off-grid completely

High thermal mass walls - cool in summer, warm in winter.

Heat with efficient "rocket heater" using scrap wood.

Living roof - again, cools in summer, holds in heat in the winter.

Sun room - shaded in summer, warms house in winter, brings natural light into the home. Allows seeds to be started for garden earlier. Possible food production inside the house during winter.

And more things that I'm sure we will figure out as we go.

A week of fun

2007-01-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

Ok, so Mary and I have really strange definitions of "fun." Moving manure around the house to build topsoil for the garden beds, in January, even when the warm weather goes away, could be considered "strange" by some people's standards. Not us! No, we enjoy that kind of thing! Which really must confound my parents, who had to practically threaten me with bodily harm to get me to do chores when I was still living at their house!

But since it has turned colder, Mary has the painting going in the living room and dining room. She is really good at it, and is flying around the room, prepping, cutting-in, and rolling. She has the same "painting clothes" that she has been using for all the other painting projects, and they have served her well. You can really tell what those are used for! Anyway, the painting should be done soon, and we will have our living room back and our dining room. That will be a good thing.

I was outside this morning, not with any real projects to accomplish, but with just pre-snowstorm cleaning up. Stuff like, bringing the snow shovels down from the shed, getting the wood chips ready for the sidewalk, and general tidying up of the gardens that I hadn't had a chance to do with other projects taking priority.

On the wood chips for the sidewalk. We use wood chips instead of salt, or ice-melt, because we can reuse wood chips, wood chips don't contaminate the garden like salt does, salt hurts the Chesapeake Bay, and wood chips float to the top of the ice and refreeze, leaving a non-skid surface to walk on. Also wood chips when frozen into the snow, allow for slip-free walking. A much better environmental choice. Oh, and did I mention that wood chips were cheaper!

I don't envy Kyle and his scout troop this weekend. Seems they had a camping trip out at Quantico Marine Base both Friday and Saturday nights. I don't know if they managed to stay warm or not, but I'm sure they had an interesting time of it!

Today's hot January 22nd meal is Vegetable soup. This is an easy favorite of mine, because I clean out the fridge and the freezer and toss things into a pot, then open a few cans to round out what I have. This kind of soup is never the same twice. Today's soup has leftover greens from the garden, carrots, half a container of frozen onion gravy, a tubby of rice, some cooked wheat berries from last week, a can of corn, a can of kidney beans, a can of tomatoes that I puree to make the soup creamier, and some squash from the big freezer downstairs. I spice it up and add some vegetable bullion to it to give it some more body. Who says there isn't anything for vegetarians to eat? Yummy!

Wow. 2 pickup truck loads of --- Sh*t

2007-01-13T18:31:00.000-05:00

Mary found someone who will bring composted horse manure right to the house. And today was cloudy, but pretty warm. I got the mudding done in the living/dining room so had some time to devote to spreading out the compost. Mary came out to help. We got lots done!

Yesterday, Mary was trying to fix up the front door molding. When the door was replaced, we put the old molding back on the door frame. Anyway, with the way the door was put in, the molding didn't quite fit right. No amount of jimmying or hammering was going to put it back on the way it would fit. So, I got some more at Home Depot today. I also got a nail set, and an inexpensive miter box with saw. I'll get that done tomorrow. Add some caulk and it will be done!

Now, after moving 2 loads of crap, I'm a bit tired!

Sanding Living room

2007-01-07T16:49:00.000-05:00

So, I got started on the living room today. The rest of the stuff moved out, curtains taken down, and stored (Mary will wash them later), drop cloths put over sofa and love seat, and the sanding begun. It took about 3 hours to get ready to get the sanding started, and 2 1/2 hours to do the sanding. Yikes, the ol' right arm is really giving me what-for! The vibration of the sander really doesn't do my elbow very well. I have some pain, but will be taking some ibuprofen for it. That should help. I'm looking forward to getting the mudding started tomorrow after work. I hope to get at least half of it done tomorrow, and the other half done Tuesday. Then Wednesday sand again, and then repeat Thursday and Friday, with another round of sanding on Saturday. That will give me a couple of days to get whatever touch-ups need fixing for Sunday and MLK day.

I made soup for dinner. It was simmering while I was doing the sanding. Yummy!

Mary and I are just lounging around in the bedroom, since the living room is empty, and the family room has quite a bit of stuff in it.

Peace!

Beautiful Saturday

2007-01-06T20:29:00.000-05:00

Mary and I started out the day early, and kept going!

We are getting the living room and dining room ready for the makeover. Today we move out most of the items (and there were a lot of them!) in preparation for the wall work and painting. But, the day was just too pretty for us to stay inside all day working! The temps were up in the 70's and we just had to get outside. I went for a bike ride, joining hundreds of other Marylanders out and about. It was like a spring day, and I was out in shorts and an a t shirt! In JANUARY!

Samuel came by to work on his science fair project. He did quite a bit of that outside, so he was enjoying the weather too!

Mary and I went for a walk before the sun went down and enjoyed talking with the neighbors around who were all gabbing about liking global warming. Sure, it is nice in winter, but when it is 112 degrees this summer, they will have a different attitude I bet.

Not much else going on, Mary and I laid around after a simple dinner of rice and carrots and just read books. It is almost time to go to bed, so I'll get this post done and out on the 'net.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T08:49:00.000-05:00

2006 has passed into history. It was a very good year for the Kniskern's and the Hokanson's. We got lots accomplished, had some sad times, and mostly happy times.

To all of my family and friends, may the world bring you wonderful challenges, joys and triumphs in the year to come.

Mary and I sat 3 of the kids down last night for a conversation on accomplishments of 2006, goals/dream for 2007 and what are you proud of? It was very enlightening to hear what each of the kids counted for accomplishments, what they are dreaming about, what goals they are setting, and what they are proud of. I'm so proud of each and every one of them. Each has his or her own personal journey through life, and each has taken a different path to learning. But overall, all the children are good.

Mary and I have listed our accomplishments in our blogs. We have been busy as the year went by.

Some of my short term goals: get the living room ready for Mary and crew to paint it. I have to repair cracks in the wall, pound in the nail-pops, mud over them and patch a crack in the ceiling and match the textured ceiling. As I told Mary this morning, I'm not looking forward to doing this project, but I am looking forward to getting it done! I believe we will be starting on it this week. Hopefully we can be done by the end of January.

Apple Trees

2006-12-29T09:44:00.000-05:00

I worked on pruning Dad's apple trees yesterday. There were lots of suckers, and trimming them was easy with my brand new reciprocating saw. The trees are dwarf, so we have them pruned down to about 10 feet high. It took me about 2 hours per tree and I got both of them done. The kids came out and cleared the branches away, and tossed them over the back fence. They were troopers!

It has been a nice trip. It has been especially nice to see Kyle. He has been a little careless of late and hurt himself a couple of times. It seems he got a wood carving set for Christmas. He was carving something when the very sharp chisel slipped and cut the base of his thumb on his opposite hand. That was before I picked him up. And last night, he was racing his Uncle Kirk, and lost his footing and skinned his knee and hand. (He may have fallen so that he could have an excuse for losing a footrace to a man 20 years older than he is!) - Just kidding Kyle.
Anyway, Kyle must be in that clumsy stage at 15.

My brother and sister asked all the kids over for a "sleep over" last night. I don't know how much sleep they got, because they haven't come back yet. I'm pretty sure they all were hanging out, watching movies and cutting up most of the night. I think they had fun though, even if they are sleepy today.

A very good holiday visit.

Wonderful Wednesday

2006-12-28T08:34:00.000-05:00

It was a great day hanging out with my family. It made that drive on Tuesday worth it! My uncle came down, and my brother had retrieved my grandmother from her house, and we all were enjoying each other all day. My folks had laid out a snacky spread on the dining room table, and we snacked all day long. The kids amused themselves, or hung out with us and generally had a great time. My niece is 5 and she had a wonderful day! It is so good to connect with family.

Dad had purchased some firewood, and Mom asked me to build a "little" fire. I tried to keep it from getting too big, but sometimes it is more difficult to maintain a small fire than a large one. I managed pretty well, and it was warm and toasty in the family room all day.

Conversations ranged from current events to old family stories. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have all of them around.

Today will be a slower day, with Dad taking Granny back home, me and the kids doing some apple tree pruning, and just hanging out after that.

Boxing Day driving Hell

2006-12-27T08:38:00.000-05:00

I left early to go pick up Kyle. I figured I'd get to his house about 3, and we would get to C'burg around 7 ish. Boy was I wrong. Driving around our fair nation's capital is a nightmare, during the day. The traffic was stop and go from Telegraph Rd all the way to Fredericksburg. But by that time I was committed to that route. I think I won't be going that way again. I'll take 301.

Anyway it took us about 3 hours from DC to get down to pick up Kyle. We got Kyle at 5 and then had to drive from Fredericksburg to C'burg. Wow. Lucky for us, the ride was much easier after we got out of Fredericksburg.

Now I'm happily visiting with Mom and Dad, with 3 of the kids with us. Mary and Tori should be arriving today, since Mary wasn't feeling like driving yesterday. It must have been fate or some other sense that she had, she really wouldn't have enjoyed the drive yesterday. We had to take two cars since we have 6 people coming down, and only 5 would fit in either car...

Looking forward to visiting with Kirk, Melissa, Jessica and Granny. Mom says that Uncle Glenn could make an appearance too!