Reduce

We've all heard about reduce, reuse, recycle, right? I've taught this to kids many times and it usually goes something like this...We all know how to recycle by putting things in the recycle bin. Can we think about ways to reuse things. Maybe writing on the back side of paper or using an old coffee can to collect pennies or to keep pencils. And reduce, uh, well, maybe buy things with less packaging? That's always the hard one for me, reduce. I was thinking about this again the other day and realized that I am already doing 2 reduce things every day. Who knew? We switched to cloth napkins awhile ago. I thought it would save our napkins from ending up a landfill somewhere. That's reduce. I haven't bought paper napkins in over a year. The other thing I started doing was to stop buying so many bottles of water and start drinking filtered tap water. Here's a great water pitcher to buy. Again, reduce! I guess its easier than I thought. Find your own ways to reduce. Have fun!

Back to School

Well, obviously, I've had a lazy summer as my last post was over a month ago. After our time in Oregon, we had my parents visit for a week and a half. We went to several wineries (its what we do here) played some miniature golf, went to the Charles Schultz Museum, and hung around the house. About a week after they left, my aunt came from Indiana. So, it was back to the wineries (oh, the sacrifices I make) another round of miniature golf, and out to several restaurants. Then we all piled in the minivan for the 7 1/2 hour trip to Long Beach to see my brother and his family. My parents were there, too, and 2 other brothers. We all had a good time, but it was a quick trip, so it was back home for another 7 1/2. Then, it was back to work getting ready for a new school year. Which brings us to today, the first day of school. It was a half day, but the new school year is underway. I am now the mother of a 3rd grader, strange to me because I taught 3rd grade for 6 years and loved it by the way. I have an ever expanding list of computer work to do, and Joel is back to full time principal mode. So, the lazy days of summer are gone, but I think we were ready to get back to the routine of another school year.

This is also harvest time here in the Napa Valley. We have friends who are home winemakers. We help them when they ask and this year the busy time has coincided with the beginning of the school year. So, we will spend a few evenings and several weekends racking, bottling, crushing and pressing wine.

So, that's our life the next few weeks, school and wine. Cheers!

Vacation

We spent our vacation time, as always, in Oregon. It is a beautiful state with no sales tax where you can't pump your own gas. We started out in Lincoln City on the coast. My husband's family has a little house right on the ocean, but up on a cliff. It is very relaxing. We read, take naps, look at the ocean, play games, and listen to Matthew say "I'm bored." So, there were also trips to the beach to play in the waves and build sandcastles, time at the local pool, badminton in the driveway, and a hike. And, as always, a trip to the outlet mall to stock up on clothes. When our time at the beach was done, we went to Portland via the Tillamook cheese factory and, to Matthew's dismay, a couple of wineries. We spent time with Joel's family who live in Portland or where also visiting. While in Portland, we took a trip on Max(light rail) with Grandma and Grandpa to look through shops, hiking in the Columbia River Gorge, saw some friends, went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and when swimming a couple of times.


I always love my time in Oregon. There is so much natural beauty and Portland is a wonderful city. Here are a few of our vacation pictures.

Matthew at Cascade Head

A view down the coast

King of the sandcastle

The Columbia River Gorge

Fire and Rain

As anyone who reads or watches the news knows, the weather has been reeking havoc on our fair nation. First tornadoes, then the Mississippi and other rivers started to rise with too much rain. Then, it started getting personal when my dad's hometown, Columbus, Indiana went under water. I have an aunt and uncle who still live there as well as other relatives in the general vicinity. After a phone call to make sure they were alright (they were), then my aunt sent some pictures. Here is one of them:

After I found out that my aunt and uncle were okay, the next town I heard was in trouble was Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Well, I know a few people in Cedar Rapids, so back on the phone and on the e-mail to find out how they are. All are fine, but the city is still bad in general. Then I start to hear about St. Louis, then St. Charles and St. Peters, where my parents and grandparents live. Several phone calls later, all is okay with the people I know. Joel then took a trip to Wisconsin and Missouri and saw the Mississippi not far from the Arch. It's crazy!

Then, on Saturday, Northern California started burning. First, a fire on the Napa-Solano county line. It's not near enough to do any harm to us, but first we saw a big plume of smoke, then we couldn't see much of anything as the smoke filled the valley. Its still pretty murky as the fire is not yet out. Then, a freak dry lighting storm started hundreds of smaller fires in the Bay Area and beyond. A couple of big fires were also going in the South Bay, but have since been contained. Joel's flight home to SFO last night was delayed an hour because of smoke. It's crazy!

Hope all is well where you are.

Laundry

As I mentioned in my last entry, the laundry does not take the summer off. However, I approach laundry a little differently in the summer. A while back, I was reading Guideposts magazine, as I do each month. There was an article, written by a doctor who saw how pollution in the environment was affecting the health of people with asthma that he saw in the ER. He suggests many things people can do to cut down on the pollution they are responsible for. The one that stuck with me was hanging the laundry out to dry. Now, I live in an area where outdoor space is at a premium, so I didn't think I had the room to hang clotheslines. But, I do have some hooks outside that I started putting hangers on to air dry a few things. Then, I thought that if I strung some clothesline between some of the hooks, then I could hang some more things out. Well, in my little yard, I now have enough clothesline to put out a whole load of laundry to dry. I sometimes have to be creative, but it works. Now, it does take more effort on my part to lug wet laundry outside and hang it up. But, and this is just me, I could use the exercise. The nice thing is that I can hang things outside and bring them in and fold them when I am ready. No more reponding to a buzzing dryer or dealing with a cold wrinkly load the next day. On a really hot day, it can dry about as quickly as a dryer. On warm day, it will take longer. I have line dryed just about every load I do at one time or another, but I found that towels come off the clothesline very hard and rough. So, I always use the dryer for towels, no matter the season.

Another thing to think about with laundry is what you are using to wash your clothes. A lot of detergents have strong smells and leave residues which can irritate allergies, especially at night. I use safe, non-toxic products that work really well. Check them out here.

Here are some pictures of my clotheslines.

Enjoy your laundry!

Summertime!!!

Well, summer vacation is finally upon us. I know that for many parents, summer can strike fear into their hearts. What will they do with the kids being home all this time? Where will they stay while the parents are at work? But, for a teacher like me, summer still holds the same allure of long lazy days relaxing that it did when I was a kid. You know what they say about the three best things about being a teacher...June, July, and August. So far, my first day of summer looks like this: Sleep in, do a little laundry (yes, the laundry doesn't take the summer off) maybe take Matthew miniature golfing, have some lunch, sit by the pool, have a glass of wine, make dinner, watch some TV, go to bed. That's the life. Other summer highlights so far:
- Matthew will go to Cub Scout camp. Its a day camp that I helped with last year but am taking this year off. It is a great time for little boys. Hiking, crafts, shooting BB guns, telling gross jokes, rolling around in dust and mud, getting sprayed off by a fire engine. What else could they want?
-Our church is having Vacation Bible School, which, coincidentally, is the same week as Cub Scout camp.
-We will make our yearly trek to Oregon. We will spend some time on the coast, some time in Portland with Joel's family, and possibly some time in central Oregon. We are still in negotiations over camping vs. hotel. I like to be in a place that has flush toilets. I don't think that's too much to ask. I'll let you know how that turns out.
-Hopefully, we will get Matthew into swimming lessons again this year. Maybe take him to hit a few golf balls, too.
On a related summer note, I am on a church softball team that plays in a city league. We finally won our first game of the year! Yeah! As many ball players do, we will make sure that next time we play, the same spectators are there and we are considering not washing the clothes we were wearing.
Happy summer everyone!

Gas Prices

Well, today it officially happened. Gas prices went over $4.00 a gallon. Actually, it went from $3.99 yesterday to $4.07 today. Yikes! There is on station I keep my eye on to gauge the prices. Its on the high side for Napa. It right on the highway. I buy my gas at a station off the beaten path that is always about 7 or 8 cents cheaper. That station is probably close, it not over the $4.oo mark. There's just something about paying that much for gas. Now $3.99, that's bad, but $4.oo, that's terrible. So, I will dedicate the remainder of this post to ways to save gas.

-My brother, Seth, owns a Prius. He loves it and he gets great gas mileage. Alas, we don't. But, if you are in the market for a new car, consider a hybrid.

-Check your tire pressure. Ever ride a bike with a low tire? Its hard work. It's the same with your car.

-Drive the speed limit. Traveling at 55 mph give you up to 21% better mileage when compared to speed limits of 65 mph and 70 mph.

-On longer trips, use cruise control if you have it.

-Remove excess weight from your car. Do you really need that case of water in your trunk?

-Combine trips. Have a lot of errands to run? Plan to do them in one trip instead of lots of little trips.

-Cruising. This is my own word for it. I have started to take my foot off of the gas pedal when approaching stops long before I used to. I am surprised with how far my car will go without using extra gas. Didn't Newton make a law about that? I have found areas around town with slight hills where this works very well. Just make sure your parking brake is not on, I say from personal experience.

-Ride a bike or walk. Matthew and I will occasionally ride our bikes to school. It takes us about 20 minutes, so we have to plan ahead, but its a nice ride.

These are just a few ideas. I know there are many more. Anyone have a great idea to share?

Extraction!

So, Matthew had 3 teeth pulled last week. Yes, they are baby teeth. Yes, they would come out anyway. It was still a little hard on me. You see, I had several teeth pulled when I was a child. Too many teeth, not enough room. They said that if they pulled my baby teeth (root and all) then my permanent teeth would come in straight and I wouldn't need braces. Well, I did have braces. Twice. So, fast forward 30 years and my son is in the same situation. Too many teeth, not enough room. He had a tooth that he lost at least 3 month ago that hadn't yet grown in. X-rays showed the problem. It was trying to come it, but the poor thing had no room. So back to the dentist for 3 extractions. Matthew was a trooper. He had never been numbed before, so he went through the alphabet, finding which letters he could and could not say with a "fat" lip. He made it though with just a little discomfort. The dentist was great with him. Even rinsed a drop of blood off his shirt before he knew it was there. We went home, gauze in mouth and three teeth root and all in a cute little container. It took a little time that evening to get back to normal. I had him with a tea bag in his mouth a few hours later to stop the last of the bleeding, something I remembered doing from my childhood and a dentist friend reminded my of. Something about tanic acid for any science people out there. Our dentist even called that evening the check on Matthew. What a guy! The next day, five dollars richer thanks to the Tooth Fairy, he had a couple of Tylenols, when to school, and then was fine. Kids recover so quickly!

Paper or Plastic?

So, what's your answer to this question? Paper is a renewable resource, right? Plastic doesn't use any trees and are recyclable, right? Here are some facts about paper and plastic bags.
-To make all the bags we use each year, it takes 14 million trees for paper and 12 million barrels of oil for plastic.
- The production of paper bags creates 70 percent more air pollution than plastic, but plastic bags create four times the solid waste — enough to fill the Empire State Building two and a half times. And they can last up to a thousand years.
-Many paper and plastic bags don't get recycled and end up in landfills. While paper will biodegrade, it is bulkier and takes up more space in a landfill. Plastic bags, made of petroleum, are in the landfill to stay.
Well, you know where I'm going with this. Paper or plastic? Neither! I use canvas bags. I have 3 that I use. I just got number four on Earth Day from my son. He got it for free at an Earth Day event here in Napa. He knows how crazy mom gets if she walks into a store without a canvas bag and has to walk out with a store bag.
Not on the canvas bag bandwaggon yet? Would some incentive help? When I use my bags at Luckys, I get a 5 cent credit on my bill for each bag I use. At Trader Joe's I get an entry in a drawing for a $25 gift certificate. I haven't won it yet, but I'll let you know. Whole Foods gives a 5 cent refund, but gives you the option to donate it to a local charity, or keep it. I keep mine, thank you, but its nice that they offer it. If you shop once a week and get a nickle back per bag, you should pay for the bags 1 1/2 to 2 years. And think of all the paper and plastic bags you won't be using!
Still want to make a difference without buying the bags? Most of the same insentives apply when you resuse paper bags.

My Life and Ways to be Green

So, here is my very first blog. I look forward to reading other people's blogs, so now I am throwing my hat in and giving it a try. I have always said that I don't have much to blog about. But, I am very interested in going green and have many things that I try to do in my life to live this out. If we all make some small changes, we can make a big difference. I also occasionally have interesting things happen in my life to share. Hence the name of my blog, My Life and Ways to be Green. Enjoy the ride!