My Journal

My Journal

Week 2

When I first looked at this class I thought that it was interesting but at my age and being set in many of my ways it did not apply very much to me. I took it as another learning experience on how other people would live or have lived. I was then faced with the challenge of coming up with things that I would or could change. In previous audio and written word I talked about the number of gas operated tools it takes to keep our property up. Normally, I would bring out the leaf blower to clear the excess grass from the driveway and sidewalk, this led to change number 1. Opting of a push broom instead, not as fast but it worked just as well and gave my old body a bit of a workout.

In making my lunch and mindlessly reaching for sandwich bags I thought that this could be another change I could make. Instead of the bags, I used containers that are reusable which would then eliminate 8 plastic bags a day (x 5 days a week x 52) plastic items going into a landfill that will then take years to decompose. (total 2080 bags) A small step but also one that reduces the cost of having to purchase those bags.

A third change that will hopefully save energy is that we have lowered the temperature of our hot tub by 3 degrees. It will use less energy to maintain its normal temp of 103 degrees and still feels warm to the body and muscles.

Finally, I spent some time with the help of my neighbor, and we built a small unit to string grapes on. I have no idea what I am doing, thank you YouTube, but we shall see. I will end up with muscadine grapes or a small clothesline. Speaking of which we are now only washing full loads as well as full loads in the dishwasher.

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The plan for this week is to reduce electrical usage. I already started that this week as we went to our camp last Friday and stayed through Monday. Before leaving the house I reduced the air conditioning temp and auto set it for our estimated time of return. It seemed to work okay as when we entered the house it was once again cool. I also unplugged all standby items which again upon our return as we went to use those items had to be turned back on, much to the annoyance of my wife. She doesn’t believe that it saves that much energy that offsets the need to turn them all back on. My reply was every bit helps. Unknown to her, (don’t need the flack) I set the hot water heater to vacation mode. Not quite sure what that does, but it is an automated setting on an already energy efficient system.

All of this was a time-consuming effort that hopefully saved the usage of energy that was not needed while we were away. Simple tools that were available for us to use for a very long time that we never took advantage of. Extra money spent that could have been used elsewhere. Additional resourced wasted. As we spend time at camp this season it will only make sense to continue this method of saving energy, but I am not sure my wife is on board with all of it.

Our next step is to conserve at camp, even though we do not pay for the use of electric it is still the right thing to do for the sake of unnecessary consumption. This past weekend I notice that we had the just the screen door in place as the a/c ran. Lights are used when daylight would be acceptable and tv’s running when no one is watching. Obviously we could do much better in all of these areas which I am sure we would if it was us paying the bill.

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The wine trellis is up and we even installed a netting material like real vineyards do to prevent the birds from eating the fruit. Our grape vines arrived and will be planted sometime this week. As the ground was prepared, I figured what is a few more feet, (yes I was using a tiller) and set to making a small garden. We will plant tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and squash. These are the items we most enjoy and although they will still need to be subsidized, we have decided to make an effort to refrain from the purchase of frozen or canned vegetables and instead frequent the fresh produce section or when time allows the Farmer’s Market.

In doing this I did discover that the water pipe that goes toward the section of the property that would make watering the garden an easy task has a leak. It is not an issue for wasted water as it has a shut off valve at the house. With watering being an issue, my neighbor and I worked on the pump system that once was used to water the entire yard (front and back) with water taken from the creek that runs at the end of our property. It forms a nice little pond before continuing and should be ample enough to water the vines and garden when mother nature is not cooperating. It is still a work in progress as we had minimal success with it, but enough to know that we can most likely have it flowing when needed.

For the few times that I have had a garden, or just raised tomatoes it is a sense of accomplishment when those items grace your table, sandwich, or salad. I am looking forward to the day of harvest and that pleasure.

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Wednesday

Back home from our extra long weekend and in time for the birth of another granddaughter. Looking at her exemplifies simplicity at its finest moment. No troubles, no worries and no eco-imprint that she has yet to make. She will not be blamed for all those disposable diapers that will be sent to the landfill over the next few years, suggesting cloth will only fall on the deaf ears of her parents. I am not sure I can blame them, washing them to satisfaction is nearly impossible and a diaper service is beyond their financial means. For now she is content to be fed, changed, kept warm and loved. Her mind is a blank page waiting to be written on yet learning even in this the first days of life. I have learned in other studies that playing music will calm her psych (sue-kay), the soul that holds inaccessible memories and is currently in a state of confusion but unknow to her. She is a picture of beauty with a future as bright as a star, but what ecological world will she live in.

The yard needed attention as well and I have found that the weed trimmer and backpack blower need service. They will have to wait – I ran to Lowes and purchased a new toy that I have been looking at but reluctant to buy, battery operated yard tools. Now charged it was time for the test. The trimmer worked well but lost power as the battery, nearly drained, struggled to finish what needed to be done. The handheld blower worked fine for what I used it for but I doubt it will handle the amount of leaves that will drop in the Fall. Two items that will lessen the amount of fuel and oil that will burn and emit toxins into the air. Maintenance is simple, freeing up more of my time, I only need to remember to keep them charged.

I can’t say that I enjoyed the additional cost, but they are a step in the right direction. They will be most useful when we downsize in the future.

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It has been taking the two of us almost 3 days to run a full dishwasher. To avoid odors we have been rinsing them with seems like an unreasonable step. If I have to do that then I might as well just wash them by hand. Another thing I have no time or desire to do. Personally, I think this would use more water than the dishwasher and they would be less sanitized. We may still stick to the plan of waiting until it needs it, even if that means running it less than full. For somethings there is not a satisfactory comprise, at least this is how we feel.

Thursday

The grape vine has been planted, looks okay for not knowing what we were doing. Due to other obligations that crept into life this week, I hired the teenagers across from us to plant the garden. They have had one for the past few years so I had no doubt they would do a good job. Perhaps they will weed it for me as well. We look forward to having home grown produce. There is nothing better than a fresh picked tomato sliced and placed on toasted bread. The only difference is that she likes Helman’s and I Miracle Whip.