Song Sparrow

Saturday, 10:58 pm

By Kate

Mar

29

2008

It’s hard to sing with your mouth full, but this little Song Sparrow does have a lovely song. I took this photo through the sliding glass door. The glass is slightly tinted so the color is a bit off. Earlier this afternoon I fixed it up a bit in Photoshop—on the desktop computer which started up for me for the first time in about 3 months. I had to shut the computer down and restart...it decided it was too tired and wouldn’t start again. So the fixed up photo will have to remain on that computer until it decides it wants to start up again. Anyway....meet my one and only resident Song Sparrow. Such a gentle little soul.

90 Percent Project - Weeks 40, 41, 42, & 43

Saturday, 4:29 pm

By Kate

Mar

29

2008

It has been a while since I’ve posted my 90 Percent Project values. Here’s a month’s worth and you can see why I’ve been reluctant to post them. I’ve been reluctant to even keep the records. Use is increasing almost across the board. Some was unavoidable, but much was related to late winter blahs and needing a little extra luxury to combat it. If spring doesn’t get here pretty soon, I’m going to go nuts.

Electricity
Week 40: 18 kWh
Week 41: 15 kWh
Week 42: 17 kWh
Week 43: 26 kWh

It hasn’t been a stellar month. In part because I have the worst case of cabin fever EVER and I’ve been adding little luxuries to my daily existence to compensate. And, of course, a week of having the lad home. Lots of laundry and dryer drying. And we had marathon movie nights and I don’t regret it one bit. So there. Now the furnace is eating up electricity, too.

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Gasoline purchased
Week 40: 0 gallons
Week 41: 4.8 gallons
Week 42: 4.757 gallons (for 2 people at 2.378 gallons per person)
Week 43: 18.488 gallons (for 2 people at 9.24 gallons per person)

Clearly, the lad’s vacation and the trip back to Pennsylvania took a whack out of my good gasoline conservation progress this quarter. Will just have to make up for it in April.

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Water
Week 40: 116.965 gals.
Week 41: 110.83 gals.
Week 42: 450.879 gals (for 2 people at 225.439 gals each)
Week 43: 467.26 gals (for 2 people @233.63 gals each)

Water was also a lost cause this month. Spring cleaning, lots of laundry. And, I regret to say...longer showers.

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Natural Gas
Week 40: 2 CCF
Week 41: 3 CCF
Week 42: 3 CCF
Week 43: 5 CCF

Well, now that the furnace pilot light is on again and the furnace is in use, I don’t think I’ll even be seeing 5 CCF again for a while.
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Trash
Week 40: 3.4 lbs
Week 41: 4.2 lbs
Week 42: 6.2 lbs
Week 43: 4.6 lbs
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Consumer Goods
Week 40: $11 for 2 Rubbermaid storage tubs
Week 41: $29 for a Freeplay Wind-up cell phone (and other gadgets) recharger.
Week 42: $120 in goods for the lad
Week 43: $0

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Food

There isn’t much left to say about food at this point in the season. There is very little fresh that’s local. I still purchase the locally grown or produced meats, eggs, cheeses, milk, and breads. But I am now also purchasing non-local vegetables and fruit.