Git along little doggy

Thursday, 7:48 pm

By Kate

Mar

06

2008

This afternoon, I glanced out my front window and observed something that didn’t sit quite right with me. It was on the weird side of life. A couple were out walking their dog and their little toddler. He was probably somewhere between 18 months and two years old. Both the dog and the toddler were on thick leather leashes. The dog was having a fine time sniffing things every two feet and the toddler was trying to have a fine time following the dog’s example. But every time he bent down or dropped to his knees to examine something, his mother gave his leash a yank and hauled him to his feet.

He wasn’t happy about that. He wasn’t having fun. And I was, frankly, racking my brain, trying to come up with a good reason why this child was being hauled along on a leash. It wasn’t crowded out there. They were the only signs of life on the street. The street is very quiet...no traffic to speak of. And little fellas do have hands to hold. Little kids like to hold mommy’s hand and walk with her. Being yanked around on a leash is not really a fun thing to experience, I shouldn’t imagine. And yes, I can understand it if the parents are in a crowd trying to keep track of a toddler who can move at the speed of light. But there just wasn’t any logical reason for it today. And the way his mom yanked him around bothered me.

Finally, the little guy had enough and he plopped his bottom on the ground. When mommy tried to lift him off the ground via the leash, he tucked his legs up and refused to put them on the ground. Mommy finally picked him up and carried him under her arm like a sack of flour. I’m not sure he liked that much better, but it was probably an improvement over being hoisted around on a leash.

I don’t know. Maybe part of it was the juxtaposition of dog and child, side by side, both being walked on thick leather leashes that made it so jarring. Or that the dog was being treated better than the little boy. I didn’t like it very much.

90 Percent Project - Week 39

Tuesday, 3:26 pm

By Kate

Mar

04

2008

And here are my weekly values for resources consumed during Week 39 (February 22-28) of the 90 Percent Project....

Electricity
Week 39: 13 kWh

Still hanging in there with a 13 kWh week. Next week will be slightly more. I...uh...used the dryer once. But despite that, it looks as if my total for the week will be the same as the first week of February when I didn’t use the dryer. For reasons I haven’t been able to determine, I’m using less electricity per day than I did in the early part of February. I don’t know why. I don’t think it’s because the days have grown slightly longer. Too slightly, in my opinion.

As predicted, my electric bill for the month of February dropped like the proverbial rock. It came in at 56 kWh for the month with a grand total due of $14.71. You have no idea how long I stared at my bill and grinned like an idiot. I wish I could point to one thing that I did to make my usage drop by half, but I can’t really pinpoint anything specific. I just used less. Part of it could be the lad being back at school, of course, but, if you look at the graph below, that doesn’t quite account for it either. He wasn’t home in September or October or November, either. This past month I did make conscious choices about whether to switch something on or not. At this stage of the project, it doesn’t feel like a hardship to ask myself whether it’s necessary to use the electricity that I’m standing there considering. Quite often the answer is...nah, not really.

There was one small disappointment in the bill’s sidebar graph, though. Last year, in February, there was a correction to my bill owing to the previous month’s estimated bill. I had forgotten about that. According to my current bill, I only used 53 kWh last February, when, in reality, that was the difference between what they’d estimated and what I actually used. After a year of trying to reduce, reduce, reduce, I ended up using 3 kWh more on this bill than the utility says I used last year. It’s not true, of course, but there it is in black and white. Kind of deflating, in a way.

(Edited: Okay, I didn’t think things through up above. I purchased my laptop in late November, but had the basement flood which required many dryer loads to prevent mildew from growing on things. The lad came home in December and used plenty of electricity. Same for January. In early February, I curtained off my kitchen and it stayed pretty chilly out there. The fridge probably used quite a lot less electricity each day. It was right about the time I installed the curtain between the kitchen and the rest of the house that my daily usage dropped by nearly 1 kWh per day. So, really, February is the first month that indicates what my baseline use is with the lad gone, the laptop in use, and no household disasters to deal with.)

_________________

Gasoline purchased
Week 39: 0 gallons

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Water
Week 39: 62.17 gallons

The new shower head seems to be earning its keep.

_________________

Natural Gas
Week 39: 1 CCF

Well, I finally did it. Wonder if I can do it again this week.

__________________

Trash
Week 39: 2.8 lbs

_________________

Consumer Goods
Week 39: $0

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Food
I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to a fresh tomato and a few green beans. Most likely from my own garden this year. I’ve had about enough root cellared squash and cabbage for the year. And the apples are growing a little mealy, too. All things considered, there’s really nothing to complain about. I’m eating well and nutritiously on food produced in my own area. That was the goal. It does make one appreciate the seasons a little more acutely and the bounty of the local growing season. I think this year will involve the purchase of a freezer. That’ll help with variety next winter. Still, it’s good to know that I can eat well through the winter, on locally produced foods, without a freezer.

Brisk and bracing

Monday, 11:52 am

By Kate

Mar

03

2008

I ran out of kindling last night, which makes starting a fire a little difficult. And I didn’t plan ahead all that well, letting the fire go out before I went to bed last night. It was pretty warm in here and I didn’t really want to waste the wood making it extremely hot so that it would be comfortably warm this morning. Since it’s not *really* cold outside, I figured the house would hold the heat through the night.

I figured kinda wrong.

This morning the living room was a brisk 56°. The rest of the house was a few degrees colder. The sun has been shining brightly outside so the temps have gone up a degree or two inside and may even go up a little more before late afternoon.

I didn’t feel like going out to rustle up some kindling. Which is to say...going out to buy some because I’m really, really out of kindling. I’ll get around to it later, but I don’t have any other reasons to go out right now. I must not be suffering that much because I’m still not moved to go out to find some kindling. I piled on the layers instead.

So let’s count the layers. On top: a thin microfiber long sleeved shirt, a cotton long underwear shirt over that, a sweatshirt, and a chambray shirt on top. With a scarf around my neck. On the bottom: a pair of microfiber long johns and jeans with heavy wool socks.

And a hot water bottle filled with boiling water tucked between the folds of a down throw blanket and my feet tucked inside the folds of the blanket.

I am, actually, quite toasty. My nose isn’t even cold nor are my fingers.

Well, it’s that much more wood saved. My woodpile isn’t as robust as I’d like it considering that at least a month and a half of heating weather remains. So anything saved today is something I’ll have later. I think I’ll have to get used to piling on these layers and doling out the wood in Scroogey increments from here on. Maybe 3 1/2 cords next year. And a whole lot more kindling.

Sunday dreck

Sunday, 2:29 pm

By Kate

Mar

02

2008

Yes, Lottie. You are dim. I assume your editors are cranially advantaged men, so what’s their excuse?

So much for that silver lining

Saturday, 2:49 pm

By Kate

March is not coming in like a lamb. Therefore, might we hope that it will go out as one? Well, we shall see. I can be patient. Sorta. Okay, not really.

I mentioned somewhere yesterday that the silver lining in all of this weather we’re having lately is that the grass is buried and I don’t have to mow it. That remark was made before I cleaned the basement.

I was cleaning out the basement this morning. Not a big cleaning project...just a little one. And, lo and behold, I found a push-reel lawnmower sharpening kit. I was so surprised. No recollection of where it came from or when. But there it was. An unopened box ready for business. It obviously pays to clean out the basement once in a while.

Inside the box: A jar of rubbing compound, a wrench, a paint brush, and some directions. Unfortunately, the rubbing compound is as hard as a rock. The directions don’t say what to do in that event. Add water? Oil? I don’t know. I can always buy some fresh compound at the auto shop, though.

The directions are easy enough. All I have to do is use the wrench to lower the blades to the cutting bar, slather the rubbing compound on the blades with the paint brush, then rotate the blades backwards. That’s all it takes to sharpen them. I can do that! I will never have to suffer from dull blades again nor depend on someone else to sharpen them for me. And I can mow my grass without gasoline or electricity.

I like using my reel mower. It’s lightweight and easy to maneuver. I like it much better than even my cute little electric lawnmower. But mine is as dull as a hoe and I never quite got around to taking it in to the shop last season to have it sharpened. That is no longer a problem.

Now, I do like my electric lawnmower. It starts every time and I can turn it off and turn it on with the flick of a switch. But dragging that electric cord along behind me got to be a real pain in the behind by mid-season last year. Especially when there are trees or shrubs to work around. Then I started inventing ways to avoid cutting the grass. Never had that problem with the reel mower, which also starts reliably every single time. One little push and we’re in business. No cords to mess with. No wildly spinning electric meter. No motors or technology to wear out and defeat me. The electric one will still come in handy after an extended period of rain when the grass is too tall for the push mower to handle. But for the main part, the reel mower is my first choice. Simplicity at its finest.

So, now that the above mentioned silver lining is shredded on the floor… (Yeah spring. Come on spring!)