Happy Earth Day.
Here's a quick link to Earth Day History:
http://www.earthday.net/
Begun in 1970 by a Wisconsin Senator, the unfortunately named Gaylord Nelson, to focus some attention on the environmental costs of our way of life.
Again with the leadership in the midwest! First Earth Day and then the right to legal marriage affirmed. And only 39 years apart.
Anyway, I like to celebrate Earth Day. It will be low key today. I've done some garden planning (may never make a garden but it's good to plan) and am trying to figure out what to "give up" to help the environment (and as a side effect these things always help the budget). Last year I gave up shampoo and conditioner about this time of year. For the past year I have not aquired a single plastic bottle for either of those things and my tub drain is shiny clean from all the baking soda and vinegar.
This year I don't know. I may give up industrial lotions. I use mostly unrefined shea butter anyway. Or I may try to totally give up plastic beverage bottles. I've mostly given that up, but now and then I've forgotten to bring a water bottle and end up buying a gallon (more cost effective and less plastic per ounce). This could be tough when camping and sometimes in the field but I think it could work if I just remember to keep containers in the car and in my field bag. I keep a 3 gallon jug of water in the car...plastic jug that isn't refillable...most of the time so I'll have to find a better container. I used to have a gallon thermos jug. I wonder if that is still around. I could also use the iced tea jar I forget is under the counter.
I'll let you know what I decide to do.
Eventually I may give up all forms of industrial meat. Only fish I catch (with the Tribe's stocked trout ponds there is a guarantee of a steady catch), stuff I kill (and I don't hunt at the moment so there won't be much of that), stuff killed by people I know, or buffalo from the guy who raises it himself and has it custom butchered. Chicken from my friends who raise their own would be fine too. This would be super hard on vacations so may need a caveat for that, or a switch to vegetarian travel food.
Alright, I'm at work so best get at it.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Awesome Thrifting
I dont' know if people are getting kicked out of their homes or what, but the thrifting has been so good, I'm having to take a break.
Finding a Japanese/English keyboard for El Kid was pretty cool. He was impressed and hasn't hooked it up but seems to like staring at it.
Books I've found: some I can't tell because they will be gifts...but maybe those people won't read anyway. Someone from the 1970s croaked or something and awesome books were at a couple of thrift stores. I got "Everything you always wanted to know about sex...but were afraid to ask". Frankly after reading parts of this book, I'm more frightened than I've ever been. According to the good "doctor" (the author claims to be a psychiatrist and is getting his info from patients...perhaps not the BEST source for info about "normal" people's sexuality) all prostitutes are lesbians, there is no such thing as male prostitute, ...I don't think there is one other thing I can post without turning this blog into something horrifying and making both readers cringe.
I also found a 1970s textbook for some class that would probably be called "health and human development" now. It talked about finances, making a nice home (a woman's job apparently), sexuality (don't do anything, you'll probably get an infection, die and give birth simultaneously), and making money (a man's job...unless a woman wants to work before she gets married, that's probably OK but she might get mannish).
The decorating book from 1978 is fabulous! (these books were a dime each or so) It is one long fashion DON'T for your home. I think my favorite is how they "opened up the space" by getting rid of that pesky wall between the master bedroom and the master bathroom. They did not however, get rid of the master TOILET!!! It is behind a sort of halfwall. The master tub was sunk down and made flush with the (carpetted) floor. Another pit was sunk near it and filled with plants. The toilet, tub, and in-potty-garden are all visible through the GIANT WINDOW. In the background you can see lights from the neighbors. But, I suspect the neighbors moved. As did the wife the first time the husband used that toilet (not a vent to be seen) and then expected a little boom-chicka-wrow-wrow. Don't you love waking up to the sound of your beloved taking a loud pee? Or perhaps they both died when they were trying to take a late night tinkle without turning on the lights (what with the lack of WALLS to confine the light) and fell into the sunken tiled tub and/or planter breaking their heads open and bleeding out (though conveniently into the drain and I hear the roses looked FABULOUS when they were finally found by the neighbors who couldn't help but look now and then.) I'm pretty sure this book must be featured on the webpage commemorating ugly rooms from the 1970s. I'd send you there but the bastards have taken it down and are now selling it as a book. That's not nice. The ugly should be free for us all to enjoy. I'll see if I can get my scanner up and running and share some from my own 10cent book.
Then there is the 1970s knitting patterns. The patterns are disturbing enough (3-D puppets poking out of children's sweater dresses so short that the crotch of her tights is well below the hem...the wearer does not look pleased) but the photos are amazing. Every single person looks self-conscious and uncomfortable if not outright pissed. Fantastic. Frankly, they look like photos my friend Jonny (Hi Jonny!) would take and put in an art show. I'm hoping someday we can re-create them and take a picture with the book open in the background to the page we're recreating.
I bought a "Cheapskate" book but it turns out I'm well beyond the piddling suggestions they make (eat at home more, cook for yourself...DUH). So that dime was wasted.
Someone recently suggested to me that since I read so much, I get some new high tech gadget where you can download books and read them off a computer screen. It apparently has an integral cell phone type link and you can buy books no matter where you are. I highly suspect that the books I enjoy will not be available on that device. The device itself costs something like 400$!! I can get 4,000 books for that amount of money. Not to mention the library.
That's probably enough for now.
Finding a Japanese/English keyboard for El Kid was pretty cool. He was impressed and hasn't hooked it up but seems to like staring at it.
Books I've found: some I can't tell because they will be gifts...but maybe those people won't read anyway. Someone from the 1970s croaked or something and awesome books were at a couple of thrift stores. I got "Everything you always wanted to know about sex...but were afraid to ask". Frankly after reading parts of this book, I'm more frightened than I've ever been. According to the good "doctor" (the author claims to be a psychiatrist and is getting his info from patients...perhaps not the BEST source for info about "normal" people's sexuality) all prostitutes are lesbians, there is no such thing as male prostitute, ...I don't think there is one other thing I can post without turning this blog into something horrifying and making both readers cringe.
I also found a 1970s textbook for some class that would probably be called "health and human development" now. It talked about finances, making a nice home (a woman's job apparently), sexuality (don't do anything, you'll probably get an infection, die and give birth simultaneously), and making money (a man's job...unless a woman wants to work before she gets married, that's probably OK but she might get mannish).
The decorating book from 1978 is fabulous! (these books were a dime each or so) It is one long fashion DON'T for your home. I think my favorite is how they "opened up the space" by getting rid of that pesky wall between the master bedroom and the master bathroom. They did not however, get rid of the master TOILET!!! It is behind a sort of halfwall. The master tub was sunk down and made flush with the (carpetted) floor. Another pit was sunk near it and filled with plants. The toilet, tub, and in-potty-garden are all visible through the GIANT WINDOW. In the background you can see lights from the neighbors. But, I suspect the neighbors moved. As did the wife the first time the husband used that toilet (not a vent to be seen) and then expected a little boom-chicka-wrow-wrow. Don't you love waking up to the sound of your beloved taking a loud pee? Or perhaps they both died when they were trying to take a late night tinkle without turning on the lights (what with the lack of WALLS to confine the light) and fell into the sunken tiled tub and/or planter breaking their heads open and bleeding out (though conveniently into the drain and I hear the roses looked FABULOUS when they were finally found by the neighbors who couldn't help but look now and then.) I'm pretty sure this book must be featured on the webpage commemorating ugly rooms from the 1970s. I'd send you there but the bastards have taken it down and are now selling it as a book. That's not nice. The ugly should be free for us all to enjoy. I'll see if I can get my scanner up and running and share some from my own 10cent book.
Then there is the 1970s knitting patterns. The patterns are disturbing enough (3-D puppets poking out of children's sweater dresses so short that the crotch of her tights is well below the hem...the wearer does not look pleased) but the photos are amazing. Every single person looks self-conscious and uncomfortable if not outright pissed. Fantastic. Frankly, they look like photos my friend Jonny (Hi Jonny!) would take and put in an art show. I'm hoping someday we can re-create them and take a picture with the book open in the background to the page we're recreating.
I bought a "Cheapskate" book but it turns out I'm well beyond the piddling suggestions they make (eat at home more, cook for yourself...DUH). So that dime was wasted.
Someone recently suggested to me that since I read so much, I get some new high tech gadget where you can download books and read them off a computer screen. It apparently has an integral cell phone type link and you can buy books no matter where you are. I highly suspect that the books I enjoy will not be available on that device. The device itself costs something like 400$!! I can get 4,000 books for that amount of money. Not to mention the library.
That's probably enough for now.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Cool Woodstoves
Not much really.
But I'm feeling like I haven't posted enough and I have a few minutes. I was going to start digging the garden this afternoon, but there is still a lot of snow on the ground from yesterday and the ground is SOGGY which makes for tough digging. Perhaps in an hour it will all be better. Or not.
Doing taxes today. It's a bit late, but what can you do. I just have to get the crap together and do the totals. The tax man then works his magic and I pay the bill. That may not seem frugal, but he gets me way way more back than I get for myself and I hate hate hate doing it.
Here's hoping I get enough back to up the land savings.
I've thinking through the lovely off-grid or semi-off-grid cabin I hope to have someday. I've found a floor plan that should work. 2 small bedrooms with a good size living/dining room, tiny bathroom, and small but do-able kitchen. There is an easy way to add a loft if I put the right type of roof on it.
I've been wondering about heating. Passive solar and possibly having the cabin partly underground on the back and sides will do part of it. But those 18-below nights we had this winter with days on end with no sun, I will need some supplemental heat. I'll also need a way to cook in the winter when there is no sun.
Woodstove comes to mind. Most are too big (put out too much heat and take up too much room).
BUT, check out this thing:
Is that not adorable? A tiny cookstove. Those are regular sized mugs off to the side, not HUGE trompe l'oeil deals. It has a 2 burner top and a smallish oven. Of course, it may well have a 20minute burn time which would be a problem. BUT, you can also order a drop-in alcohol burner for one of the top burners. That way you can cook in the summer without burning wood. That could come in pretty handy for a cup of tea in the morning before the sun is up. It doesn't need much in the way of clearance and can be set up on a (non-flammable) counter. When building with mudd and rocks, all of that can be done. You can also get it in lovely enameled colors. The downside: it costs more than most of the cars I've owned. The upside: I buy crap cars so that still isn't that much. It's in the 2500$ range for standard black iron. It's also cool because it's built with patterns or moulds from the 1890s.
Anyway, if that is too much or not enough here are a couple of other options:
This, despite the size of the photo, is bigger than the last one. It is a convection heater so the top is hot, but the sides aren't. This saves a great deal on clearances around the stove which will be a big deal in a small cabin. I've also seen where people buy the regular radiant heat stoves (cheaper) and cob right around the stove will very little airspace. This lets the stove heat the cob (mud, straw, clay mix) for a longer heat time than just the burn time. That's all well and good but again, takes up space and starts to make the house look "hobbity" which I HATE. If I wanted a cozy round house I'd be a rabbit and live in a hole. I want a square house like god intended. Unless it really works, in which case I'll learn to live with a hobbity stove.
And this little number from Australia is cool:
Four burners and an oven. BUT, it's bigger and would probably overheat the house on most regular days. And how much bread do I need to bake?
There are some other options, like harvesting methane off the decomposing animal waste (yes, poop) into a propane type stove/oven. I'm not sure I'm enough of a hippie to cook my food over poo-fumes. I could probably tolerate running a hot water heater with it because that flame is isolated from the water. But a stove with a turd-gas flame right under my food....too much.
So we're back to woodstoves...
Anyway, someday I'll post the floor plan I found (if I still like it in a few weeks).
It's very compact without getting all hippie dippy.
But I'm feeling like I haven't posted enough and I have a few minutes. I was going to start digging the garden this afternoon, but there is still a lot of snow on the ground from yesterday and the ground is SOGGY which makes for tough digging. Perhaps in an hour it will all be better. Or not.
Doing taxes today. It's a bit late, but what can you do. I just have to get the crap together and do the totals. The tax man then works his magic and I pay the bill. That may not seem frugal, but he gets me way way more back than I get for myself and I hate hate hate doing it.
Here's hoping I get enough back to up the land savings.
I've thinking through the lovely off-grid or semi-off-grid cabin I hope to have someday. I've found a floor plan that should work. 2 small bedrooms with a good size living/dining room, tiny bathroom, and small but do-able kitchen. There is an easy way to add a loft if I put the right type of roof on it.
I've been wondering about heating. Passive solar and possibly having the cabin partly underground on the back and sides will do part of it. But those 18-below nights we had this winter with days on end with no sun, I will need some supplemental heat. I'll also need a way to cook in the winter when there is no sun.
Woodstove comes to mind. Most are too big (put out too much heat and take up too much room).
BUT, check out this thing:
Is that not adorable? A tiny cookstove. Those are regular sized mugs off to the side, not HUGE trompe l'oeil deals. It has a 2 burner top and a smallish oven. Of course, it may well have a 20minute burn time which would be a problem. BUT, you can also order a drop-in alcohol burner for one of the top burners. That way you can cook in the summer without burning wood. That could come in pretty handy for a cup of tea in the morning before the sun is up. It doesn't need much in the way of clearance and can be set up on a (non-flammable) counter. When building with mudd and rocks, all of that can be done. You can also get it in lovely enameled colors. The downside: it costs more than most of the cars I've owned. The upside: I buy crap cars so that still isn't that much. It's in the 2500$ range for standard black iron. It's also cool because it's built with patterns or moulds from the 1890s.
Anyway, if that is too much or not enough here are a couple of other options:
This, despite the size of the photo, is bigger than the last one. It is a convection heater so the top is hot, but the sides aren't. This saves a great deal on clearances around the stove which will be a big deal in a small cabin. I've also seen where people buy the regular radiant heat stoves (cheaper) and cob right around the stove will very little airspace. This lets the stove heat the cob (mud, straw, clay mix) for a longer heat time than just the burn time. That's all well and good but again, takes up space and starts to make the house look "hobbity" which I HATE. If I wanted a cozy round house I'd be a rabbit and live in a hole. I want a square house like god intended. Unless it really works, in which case I'll learn to live with a hobbity stove.
And this little number from Australia is cool:
Four burners and an oven. BUT, it's bigger and would probably overheat the house on most regular days. And how much bread do I need to bake?
There are some other options, like harvesting methane off the decomposing animal waste (yes, poop) into a propane type stove/oven. I'm not sure I'm enough of a hippie to cook my food over poo-fumes. I could probably tolerate running a hot water heater with it because that flame is isolated from the water. But a stove with a turd-gas flame right under my food....too much.
So we're back to woodstoves...
Anyway, someday I'll post the floor plan I found (if I still like it in a few weeks).
It's very compact without getting all hippie dippy.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Cheap Thrills
I had my annual review (almost as much fun as an annual exam). The only criticism I accept is that my outfits are crap.
So where did I go for new outfits for work? THRIFT. HA!
Today I'm wearing a rust/orange wool sweater with a straight hem and v-neck (and sleeves that are actually long enough so it's probably a men's sweater). It cost 99cents at the alarmingly named Classy Rack thrift store. The name is particularly alarming because it is linked to the mission...christian mission...that helps poor people and is in a pretty rough part of Spokane. It's near the DejaVu strip club and whatnot which makes for some double entendre for the Classy Rack. But I'm not proud. I'll take the sweater off the 99cent rack. Especially since no one ran it through the dryer.
I also checked out the Goodwill in Moscow, Idaho. I got 4 shirts. 2 Columbia brand. 1 LandsEnd. 1 Chadwicks. I know that Chadwicks isn't "classy" but it's a fine color and I won't feel bad if I rip it crawling over a barbed wire fence.
I think my jeans are still acceptable. It IS Idaho afterall. Jeans are business casual (black jeans are business formal).
So where did I go for new outfits for work? THRIFT. HA!
Today I'm wearing a rust/orange wool sweater with a straight hem and v-neck (and sleeves that are actually long enough so it's probably a men's sweater). It cost 99cents at the alarmingly named Classy Rack thrift store. The name is particularly alarming because it is linked to the mission...christian mission...that helps poor people and is in a pretty rough part of Spokane. It's near the DejaVu strip club and whatnot which makes for some double entendre for the Classy Rack. But I'm not proud. I'll take the sweater off the 99cent rack. Especially since no one ran it through the dryer.
I also checked out the Goodwill in Moscow, Idaho. I got 4 shirts. 2 Columbia brand. 1 LandsEnd. 1 Chadwicks. I know that Chadwicks isn't "classy" but it's a fine color and I won't feel bad if I rip it crawling over a barbed wire fence.
I think my jeans are still acceptable. It IS Idaho afterall. Jeans are business casual (black jeans are business formal).
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Of Potties and Pie
OK, actually there is no "pie" but I needed a "p" word for alliterative purposes.
Here is an EXCELLENT photo sent to my by my cousin (either a second cousin by modern reckoning or a first cousin once removed by previous terminological standards).
A port-a-potty graveyard in St. Louis, MO. Not unlike its elephant counterparts, apparently the residents migrate here just before they die. Their bones dry in the sun and are revered as aphrodesiacs by the regions natives.
Actually, I'm just really glad this is not a scratch-n-sniff picture.
And as an extra treat, here is a video of old people singing inappropriate songs from my current favorite documentary, Young@Heart.
(the cheap bastards won't allow me to embed the good stuff so please click the link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v8_BnZSBQo
Here's a not as good video embedded (BUT for Unka Pat...it is their version of one of the Boss' tunes). Skip ahead to about the 40sec mark for best results. Yes, old people singing Bruce Springsteen to prisoners.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
My Great Great Grampa, And G-G-Gramma, and G-Gramma and G-G-Aunt!
History of Dakota Territory By George Washington Kingsbury, George Martin Smith
It doesn't display quite right, but just click on it and you go to the original page. How cool is this??
And just for giggles, here's my Gramma. Daughter of Jane in the above excerpt.
I KNOW this pose and glare (and she never did get much bigger!):
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I'm Baaaaaack...
Well, for a day or two anyway.
I'm having trouble with internet access and getting the blog up. I was trying to write it in notepad and then quickly post it at work, but this isn't working because the line wrap thingy gets all wonky and that drives me NUTS.
Anyway, right now I'm at a conference at the Wildhorse Casino outside Pendleton, Oregon. It's a lovely facility and pretty cheap.
And, it comes with a side of cheesy so that makes it even better. Here is the view from my window:
Honestly, it's not worse than the view if you could see the landscape. The word "desolate" comes to mind. This is the area of the world scoured by the Missoula Floods (back an ice age or so ago, western Montana and into Canada was a big lake held in place by some an ice dam near the Montana/Idaho border...sometimes the dam would break and the HUGE wall of water...like 1500feet deep...would wash over North Idaho and parts of Washington and Oregon taking all the dirt with it. This happened multiple times) and also an area that has been to dry to grow many plants and thusly little soil formation and thusly...bit of a moonscape.
And here is my favorite part of the room...the Door to Nowhere:
It's in a sidewall and goes to a thin little space and another door. I wanted to take pictures of that and will try again tomorrow. Right now the neighbors on the other side of the other door to nowhere are in and I don't want to freak them out any more than necessary.
The back side of the door has no knob but there is no deadbolt or any other locking device. Not even a locking door knob! And the latch is one of the kind that is so easy to open with a credit card or that plastic room key thingy.
The door also appears to be hollow core as does its mate. We were served a lovely buffet that was...oh, let's say "heavy". We were all making grand efforts not to break windage during the post dinner discussion, There was much fidgeting. Many fake cell phone calls were taken as an excuse to go into the hallway and make a dash for the restroom. Here's hoping the neighbors' stomachs were not too upset by the dinner.
In OTHER NEWS....I'm totally going to see SPINAL TAP in concert!
OK, it's the main three guys from Spinal Tap and not in costume and they will be playing acoustically, but STILL!! Awesome. I'm going to the concert in Denver and my friend Jonny (Hi Jonny) is going with me. We will have a freaking BALL. I'm totally going to make t-shirts.
OK, I need to do a bit of yoga before I get stuck in a crap TV loop...too late. I'm watching some sort of tranny model contest run by RuPaul. It appears to be called "RuPaul's Drag Race". OH MY GOD! Charo is going to be on. I'm totally stuck in a crap TV loop already. Oh well.
I'm having trouble with internet access and getting the blog up. I was trying to write it in notepad and then quickly post it at work, but this isn't working because the line wrap thingy gets all wonky and that drives me NUTS.
Anyway, right now I'm at a conference at the Wildhorse Casino outside Pendleton, Oregon. It's a lovely facility and pretty cheap.
And, it comes with a side of cheesy so that makes it even better. Here is the view from my window:
Honestly, it's not worse than the view if you could see the landscape. The word "desolate" comes to mind. This is the area of the world scoured by the Missoula Floods (back an ice age or so ago, western Montana and into Canada was a big lake held in place by some an ice dam near the Montana/Idaho border...sometimes the dam would break and the HUGE wall of water...like 1500feet deep...would wash over North Idaho and parts of Washington and Oregon taking all the dirt with it. This happened multiple times) and also an area that has been to dry to grow many plants and thusly little soil formation and thusly...bit of a moonscape.
And here is my favorite part of the room...the Door to Nowhere:
It's in a sidewall and goes to a thin little space and another door. I wanted to take pictures of that and will try again tomorrow. Right now the neighbors on the other side of the other door to nowhere are in and I don't want to freak them out any more than necessary.
The back side of the door has no knob but there is no deadbolt or any other locking device. Not even a locking door knob! And the latch is one of the kind that is so easy to open with a credit card or that plastic room key thingy.
The door also appears to be hollow core as does its mate. We were served a lovely buffet that was...oh, let's say "heavy". We were all making grand efforts not to break windage during the post dinner discussion, There was much fidgeting. Many fake cell phone calls were taken as an excuse to go into the hallway and make a dash for the restroom. Here's hoping the neighbors' stomachs were not too upset by the dinner.
In OTHER NEWS....I'm totally going to see SPINAL TAP in concert!
OK, it's the main three guys from Spinal Tap and not in costume and they will be playing acoustically, but STILL!! Awesome. I'm going to the concert in Denver and my friend Jonny (Hi Jonny) is going with me. We will have a freaking BALL. I'm totally going to make t-shirts.
OK, I need to do a bit of yoga before I get stuck in a crap TV loop...too late. I'm watching some sort of tranny model contest run by RuPaul. It appears to be called "RuPaul's Drag Race". OH MY GOD! Charo is going to be on. I'm totally stuck in a crap TV loop already. Oh well.
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