Wordless Wednesday: September 19, 2007

See More Wordless Wednesdays HERE

Wordless Wednesday Participants

1. ellen b 2. Dallas Meow 3. WFMm 4. Melanie 5. Diana 6. Yen 7. Blessed Nest 8. SandyCarlson 9. Bodhipaksa

10. Sue 11. Believer in Balance 12. Drowning Me Slowly 13. Andrea 14. KEY 15. Cheaper By the Half Dozen 16. Molly Coddled 17. Natalie 18. Deb - Mom of 3 Girls

19. homemom3 20. Skittles 21. Mycrazylife 22. Mark Caldwell 23. bundle-o-contradictions 24. so lost 25. Emmyrose 26. http://gffreebushtelegraph.blogspot.com/

Check out the new Wordless Wednesday HQ!!
View More Wordless Wednesday Participants

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Alfred Hitchcock Bird Repellent?

It's The Birds!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

We're being taken over!!

And they're getting closer... and closer... and closer!

The other morning it was the geese. We have a creek that runs through the back of our property that they must be attracted to in their trek toward a warmer climate. And apparently, geese are pretty early risers. Like five in the morning early. And they like to talk to each other, these geese.

HONK.

HONKHONKHONK.

HONK! HONK! HONK!

Then, it was the ducks. We have a little marshy spot next to the house, between ours and the neighbors, that seems to be a duck-magnet. I think it must be the bugs. They see it and think: YUM! It's a duck's version of the Big Boy Breakfast Bar! So we have flocks of them crowding in, way too freaking early in the morning, jostling for space at the bug-bar!

This morning, it was a woodpecker. We have satellite TV, and they decided to put the satellite itself on the side of the house. First, so they wouldn't have to go up onto the roof and fix it if there was a problem. Second, it would be accessible for us if snow blocked the satellite. Makes sense to me... Of course, no one considered that we just made the perfect woodpecker perch!

RAT A TAT TAT TAT!

Is someone at the door? What the heck? The dogs start barking, and there's that knocking again...

RAT A TAT TAT TAT!

Definitely not the door... it's coming from the side of the house... I look out our bedroom window, and there's a little redheaded woody sitting on top of our satellite and pecking holes in the wood siding. Terrific!

What's next?

Crows coming down the fireplace flue? Owls in the attic?

I'm almost afraid to get chickens, now!

Do they make Alfred Hitchcock Bird Repellent?

School Daze

Well, there they go...

*sniff*

Never say never... isn't that what they say? Today is Zoe and Dmitri's first day of school--ever. Both of them are entering kindergarten, even though Zoe is six and Dmitri is five. We've been homeschooling up until now, but I've taken a very laid-back, unpressured and child-led approach, so when the principal said first-graders should know 10 sight words and be able to count to 100, I knew ours were both definitely kindergarten-bound.

Why did we decide on school? Well, for a few reasons. First, they keep asking to go. All the other kids go to school. Even Caillou goes to school, that little bald-headed weirdo. (I'm still surprised he's not wearing a hockey helmet...) Everywhere we go, kids are defined by their grade. At church, they want to classify the kids by grade. In stores, doctor's offices, outtings, people always ask them, "What grade are you in, honey?" The kids just give them blank stares. It kind of got to the point where I wondered if I was doing more damage to them by making them "weird" or "different" from other kids than school would do... I figure they'll be better able to decide later if school is something they really want to do, and if they decide it isn't, at least they'll have had the opportunity to know what they're missing.

Also, this is the last year I could sit on the fence, and I knew it. One grade behind isn't so bad (for Zoe) but two? Eek! So if we were going to do it, now would be the time. Also, considering we've been living on one salary since Zoe was born, two kids in school all day would free me up to find something to supplement our income, at least part time, if not full. So that was a consideration.

Of course, this isn't a final decision. We could decide it isn't working and pull them out mid-year. Ultimately, I'd like to start re-homeschooling them come 3rd grade or so. Kindergarten through second really isn't so hard on kids... it's more fun than work. Third grade is when I remember the change happening in my older ones, Autumn and Blake... the light went out of their eyes when it came to school and learning. Up until then, they were still pretty curious and interested in the world around them. That's the part I don't want Zoe and Dmitri to lose...

But for now... there they go.

*sigh*

Let There Be Light!

I just replaced every single one of these in my new house:

With one of these:

Why?

Because I'm a mizer, that's why. These bulbs last much, much longer than regular, incandescent bulbs. They don't break when you drop them, either, Ms. Klutz discovered (bonus!) and they are supposedly environmentally friendly.

According to Wikipedia (the lazy woman's research guide *grin*)": a CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) can save over $30 in electricity costs over the lamp’s lifetime compared to an incandescent lamp and save 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gasses.

But can it cut an aluminum can in half, that's what I want to know!

I buy them at Sam's Club, so my savings is pretty significant. Still not as cheap as incandescent bulbs, but when you consider they last 8-15 times as long!? I've had one in the lamp next to my bed for two years, and it's never burned out. Two YEARS! Woot!

As for the environmentally friendly part, well... there is a concern about mercury, I guess. (Can't have everything--where would you put it, right?) They use 1 mg of mercury in them when they make the bulbs. Of course, 1 mg of mercury isn't all that much... there's 1 mg of mercury per cubic meter of sea water, right? So they say... but still, put a million of them in a landfill, and you've got a math meets mercury disaster leaking into our water supply, right? Of course, burning coal to make the electricity that goes into incandescent lightbulbs actually produces mercury, too. Can't win for losing...

So I guess I have to do the right thing and recycle the new bulbs when they finally burn out! I did find some place local from this site: Earth911.

Now I'm just waiting for them to come out with affordable LED bulbs. Right now they're cost prohibitive (like $50 a bulb! Eek!) but I have a feeling they'll replace the CFL. Kind of like cassette and video tapes getting replaced by CDs and DVDs.

Why?

A 1.4 Watt LED bulb replaces the standard 60 Watt incandescent. The CFL bulb uses 13 Watts. You do the math!

I can't wait!

So Easy A Caveman Could Do It

Men and fire are funny, aren't they? It's like a total caveman regression thing. They're all proud when they can make it (even if it DID involve some sort of propane, lighter fluid, or even a match) and then they're completely fascinated by it, for hours on end, feeding it, watching it burn...

What is up with that?

It's definitely a "guy" thing, because Blake, my 13 year old son, is totally into bonfires now that we've moved. He claims there's "nothing else to do" around here. Not that he's wrong, exactly. He took his bike out for a ride around the neighborhood, and he came back stunned and appalled, informing me, "I saw two cars on the road, Mom! TWO! Count them--one, two! That's IT!"

Well... yeah. At home, we couldn't go ten minutes without a car going by out front. Here? One an hour... maybe. Ours is not a well-traveled road, I must admit. Portions of it are unpaved, so I think most people try to avoid it if they can. Which is really not always a bad thing.

But Blake's suburban sensibilities were seriously offended by the lack of population and goings-on...until Michael showed him the bonfire pit. Yes, son, that's right, we get to start FIRE! Blake's eyes lit up and his jaw went slack as he gazed into the aforementioned pit, already imagining the blaze... I could almost hear the Tim Allen "Arr-Arrr-Arrrrh!"

So when it came time to start the fire, I stayed inside, dressing the little kids in long sleeves and long pants, spraying them liberally with OFF! and then gathering all the ingredients we'd need to make S'Mores. I let Blake and Michael handle the fire-making. When we finally got outside, there was a huge bonfire going, and both of them were standing aside, wearing gloves and carrying big shovels, looking smugly proud.

You should have seen them. Whenever their eyes met, I could almost hear them saying: "We make fire! Fire good!" And of course, Dmitri, the five-year-old, immediately wanted to throw a log on the fire and "help."

Me and Zoe?

We just wanted to cook marshmallows and eat chocolate!

Which is exactly what we did... until it got too buggy for us outside, so we went in, took a bath, got in warm jammies, and snuggled in bed, our tummies full of gooey sweetness.

The "boys" however, stayed out and tended the fire for a few more hours. While Zoe and I were dreaming about giant marshmallows and Hershey bars, they were out there burning everything their testosterone-filled heads could think of to burn...

When Michael finally came to bed, he gave a satisfied sigh and said, "Great fire!" as he drifted off to sleep.

So easy a caveman could do it, indeed...

Propane Pain

How many of you knew that you have to buy propane in bulk? Go ahead, don't be shy, raise your hand if you knew.

Uh-huh.

To those of you who have your hands raised...

WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?!?!?

*sigh*

Like I have a spare $400 in my budget to purchase propane all at once?? Which, by the way, only fills half that torpedo at the side of my house. HALF.

What brainiac came up with this whole fossil fuels as energy idea in the first place, thinking, "Hey, here's a good idea, let's take this non-renewable energy source and sell it, and we'll make a mint--until it all runs out at some unforseeable point in the future that we don't care about because we'll be dead..."

Feh!

Makes me crazy to know that there ARE renewable energy sources out there (solar, wind, etc) and ways to build houses that would maximize those to make them viable options... but are they available to the general public? Nope.

So I'm stuck robbing Peter to pay Paul in order to heat my water and, when it gets cold enough, the house. (Which is, technically, still heating water--it's steam heat.) I do find it kind of interesting to have an actual gauge outside, though, telling how much energy we've used. It certainly makes you more conscious, and I like that part. We now have 5% left. When we called to ask how long the propane company thought that might last, they replied, "For some people, it could be a month, for others, about three days."

Of course, we had to err on the side of caution and order propane now--just in case we're propane hogs and don't know it. But it will be interesting to see how much energy we use, and how much we can conserve. A rather fun experiment.

If I'd only known we had to pay it all at once, I would have planned for it, ya know? *sigh* I guess we'll know for next year, and start planning accordingly.

I just wish we didn't have to use non-renewable energy sources at all. But it really is interesting, how living out here forces you to think about things you take for granted in the suburbs or the city. Out here, rubbish pickup is direct. Propane tanks sit at the side of houses like huge torpedos. Your personal consumption and waste is definitely more in-your-face, which makes it much, much more conscious. Not necessarily a bad thing.

People out here still try to disguise it, though. As if that big thing shaped like a bomb at the side of your house doesn't actually contain enough explosive material to blow up half the county. I've seen people plant lots of flowers around their tank to hide it, or even paint it:

I'm tempted to paint mine too, believe me.

But I definitely wouldn't be painting flowers on the side. Oh, no. Mine would be more... graphic...

Well, I'll just leave it to your imagination...

Puking, Pumpkins, Plumbers...

Day two of the mysterious fever and unknown illness of the two youngest homo sapiens in the house. Slight congestion seems to be apparent, and a low to midgrade fever, along with general malaise. The "Could Be Anything" Bug has struck!

We don't do doctors unless we have to--which generally means being sick longer than 3 days or a high fever or something like that. And we don't have a doctor here, yet. Which will be tricky, because we don't vaccinate. I'm considering selectively vaccinating--perhaps polio--but for the most part, I think the body is pretty amazing and made to heal itself. Of course, I'm not like some religious zealot about it or anything. If someone gets cancer, we're getting the radiation and chemo... WHILE we do all the alternative stuff. (Spitting on the ground twice and knocking fervently on wood after even typing that out loud!)

So I'm hoping the Ibuprofen will be enough to hold off the Could Be Anything Bug long enough for the kids' immune systems to kick in. They both crawled into our bed this morning while hubbie was getting ready for work and made a mommy sandwich, asking for medicine.

But Z said: "Not the pink kind. It makes me pook." That's her version of "puke." She says she hates "pooking." Now, really... who doesn't? But ever since I gave her a dose before I realized it was stomach flu and not just a rumbly tummy and she immediately threw up all over her Strawberry Shortcake sheets, she has continually refused the "pink stuff," believing that it was the medicine that make her vomit. I assured her that she didn't need any of that kind of medicine, dosed them both up with Motrin, and we cuddled in bed to watch Muppets in Space.

Sick days are jammie days, so we didn't get out of ours. Until the phone rang. The -plumber, who was supposed to be here last Friday, but called with a family emergency and rescheduled for Monday, but never showed up or called... finally wanted to come out. Today. About nowish. So much for mommy having a jammie-day, too. I jumped in the shower and started straightening, trying to decide just how much mess was acceptable for the impending plumber visit.

The problem Mr. Plumber was coming to fix was twofold. 1. We have a leak in the ceiling which is just under the bathtub. 2. We have little to no water pressure. For a month I have been waiting 20 minutes for a bathtub to fill up to bathe the kids. I call our morning showers "drizzles." The best I can describe it... if you close your eyes while you're under our shower, you'd swear someone was peeing on your head. It's that bad. So while I was a little miffed at actually having to get showered and dressed today, I was actually looking forward to Mr. Plumber's visit.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a two minute affair after all my running around-- loading the dishwasher, sweeping junk from the counters into a box and tossing it into the garage, and swishing the toilet bowl brush around that well-water stain in the bottom. He stayed long enough to tell me that it wasn't a problem with the plumbing, it was a problem with the caulking. "Bathrooms are supposed to be waterproof," he said. Well. Really? Duh. "Yours isn't." Um, yeah. We noticed. When I asked about the water pressure, he said, "That's a problem with the well. You need to call a well technician." Oh. And here I thought plumbing was plumbing. Apparently not!

So Mr. Plumber left, none of the problems fixed, and I stood at the front door watching forlornly as he drove away... and that's when I noticed the pumpkin. Well, it's not actually a pumpkin yet... it's just a vine growing out of a pot. The woman who lived here before us planted a pumpkin for us "for the little ones," she said. I thought it was sweet. I had never really considered how long pumpkin vines grow. Guess I should have paid more attention during those Charlie Brown specials? Not only that, but they're very pokey. I went out because I noticed some brown leaves near the top that I figured I should pull off... but ouch! Prickly little suckers!

I have no idea if it will actually grow a pumpkin or not. Even if it does, I have a feeling she planted it rather late. From what I'm reading, we should have fruit already... and there's nothing I can see that resembles a pumpkin. But it's kind of fun to watch the vine trailing along the side of the porch, getting bigger every day. It's rather strange and alien. Of course, growing things in general are all a bit odd to me. The thought that there might be something attached to that spikey vine that we could consume? Weird!

Of course, I'm the mom who said, "That's true" when my youngest answered the question, "Where does milk come from?" with "The store!" This whole living in the country thing really is going to take some getting used to...

Anyone know a good well-technician in the area?

That's okay... all I have to do is go next door and ask the neighbors...! :)