live from sublurbia

I thought about this the other day when reading about an effort to block methane facilities changes to our state landfill system.

My first thoughts were along the lines of, “I dunno, methane sounds great! Use it to power cars, and power plants!” Then I wished I spoke more legislativeeze. Green Florida says this is not a great bill, would end mulch programs, but does it?

Solid Waste / Recycling and Landfills 
 
HB 569 was considered on second reading Tuesday and passed by the full House on Thursday. The bill would allow certain Class I landfills with an active gas-collection system to collect yardwaste. It also requires such a landfill to obtain a minor permit modification to its operating permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection which describes the beneficial use being made of the landfill gas and modifies the facility’s operation plan before receiving any yard trash. Its Senate companion, SB 1052, has yet to be heard in the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee. County staff will continue to oppose these bills as contradictory to the state’s 75% recycling goal and in an effort to preserve space in Class I landfills.

Further reading seems to indicate what Green Florida is worried about – looks like counties can cut their costs by combining waste and yard waste pickup and just methaning everything. Continue Reading »

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It’s weird, thinking about that word. Dirty. And about hanging dirty laundry. Why air dirty laundry? Are you airing it? Or sunning it? And don’t you want to hang up CLEAN stuff?

Back when I was still diapering our pair, I’d hang out the diapers to sun the spots* out, and it got me thinking more on the use of the phrase and the word. About old laundry and modern laundry and the pile of folding I’m ignoring.

You’d air dirty laundry if you just want to get some of the smell out, letting it dry out and get out. Much like you air your shoes out by rotating them through a couple of working pairs. And you sun dirty (soiled*) laundry to get the color out. After you wash it through your washer, or smash it on a river with rocks, ymmv.

So I decided** to try it out with a shirt my youngest had spilled spaghetti sauce on. Washed it twice, still had a stain, hung it out on the laundry line***. Stain was gone within two hours. Laundry line only fell over three times (first time I’d set it up and I didn’t have a proper foundation) before I leaned the bricks on it correctly.

Not just the “fresh feeling” of dryish clothes from the air, not just the de-scenting that can be done with some vinegar and airing, but sunning out of stains. Fun****! Got a bunch of work and workout clothes done for me, too.

* poop stains
** dryer conked out
*** don’t tell the home ogres assciation
**** dryer conked out at 5:30 in the morning with my work and workout clothes all tumbling around – luckily it was a dry run day and I didn’t have to actually be anywhere at any set time ..

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I’ve got one pretty pretty rain barrel at the front of the house. Looks a lot like a big planter unless you know better, or spot the hose peeking off of the side.

I want more. Oh, I want more. They don’t have to be that pretty, but they should work. However, I grew up in the desert, and I know what the ravages of the sun can do to household goods repurposed to other lives.

However, it looks like garbage cans will work fine after all. :) Continue Reading »

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I’ve got my rain barrel up and running just in time for the tremendous rainstorms. Yay! Now if only I had a better spot for it. Not getting a lot of roof run off at the front of the gable. :(

However, the sides of the house are getting soaked. I’ve got a big tub out there, catching water that also doubles as a mud-rinsing sink. So, why not move it? But the rain barrel just looks good at the front.

So I got a bucket and moved the water from the side of the house to the rain barrel one gallon at a time. Ridiculous, I know, but at least it’s getting filled …

And I’ve got the back garden beds cleaned out. They’re falling apart but they should last me one more season. I’ve layered in some veggie potting soil and just spent this lovely cool sixty-degree morning transplanting in some vines and fruits.

Yay rainy season, bring it on! (But no more tornado warnings, kthx!)

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It’s a lot harder to get to the library than it used to be. Of course, “used to be” was when I was a kid and could walk the mile or so there. My little library wasn’t the greatest, but it was there. I’ve heard rumor that it’s not any more, and that makes me mad and sad. Books were a fantastic adventure and lifeline growing up. The thought that the kids don’t have that resource anymore really really bugs me.

Sorry. Tangent. Harder for me to get to the library. I don’t work in a different county anymore (though I may again), but part of the harder now is not trying. We could bus it, or drive it – it’s just a quick trip downtown. It’s a lovely large library that always seems empty when we go. :| But I’m trying to get there, with the kids, alone, both. Get in the habit of borrowing books instead of buying them.

But I do get quite a selection from the pile of remaindered books at book stores and dollar stores. It’s how I picked up a second copy of Driving with Boys and a copy of Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. A book on women’s health issues, a romance novel about a former monk, and Zoo With A View.

It led me to think about starting a remaindered books club – but I suppose that doesn’t do the authors any good. :P We’re saving the publisher the trouble of recycling the books, is all. But how do we get they payment to the author? It’s a similar issue with ebooks – I can’t find a definitive source that tells me if an author gets payment for the ebooks I buy (rather than make – haven’t figured out the mechanics necessary for me to start scanning in my own books).

Maybe I should see if they have tip jars. I remember signing up for PayPal back in the early ‘aughts, and sending Ted Benna a quarter after hearing him interview on Morning Edition. I can’t recall the quote exactly, but the conversation went on about how many 401(k) plans there are in the US, and if Ted had a quarter for every account he’d be quite a rich man. So I sent him a quarter using PayPal. We had a nice little conversation and he sent it back (fees would have taken about half back then, I think).

Maybe that’s what a remaindered book club should have – people pick a book and pass it around, and pay some of it direct-to-author.

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I grew up in the desert, and if there was ever anything slimy on the ground (rare) it was usually a good thing and we were to leave it be. Or help it to the shade.

Slimy usually meant earthworms – and earthworms are our friends. As well as good fishing bait.

Walking the kids to school yesterday, I saw a strange and creepy slimy thing. As we’ve had enough ickies in the house, I let it be, merely pointing it out for a quick science lesson, then popped home to see what it was. Long, striped, with a spade-shaped head (hammer head). Land Planairian, I know for next time, squish it dead. I ran back with a cup of microwaved water, but it had left the sidewalk by the time I got there.

But I know for next time, no good can come of them.

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To find more school tips, hit this weeks WFMW!

Ah, shoes and socks and bits and bobs, it’s time to get ready for school again. Yesterday I pulled out the school clothes tub to sort through what we’ve got an what we need. Pulled three shirts I’m going to try and de-stain, added three I picked up from an outlet store last week. Pants and shorts we’re good on, but I’ll need to take my eldest shoe shopping.

The day before school starts, we’ll pick up his classroom assignment, teacher assignment, and supply sheet. The supplies usually range from typical, such as paper, pencils, and crayons, to class-wide, such as construction paper, hand sanitizer, and modeling clay.

Some of these things can be acquired sustainability – sure I can go buy a pack of Play-Doh, but I’ve been saving it up from kid meals and party bags. Even getting it out for the kids to play with from time to time, I have a fat ton of that stuff in the house. Paper? Notebooks? Pencils? Recycle-content goods! Even plastic bags have gotten into the act, made with less plastic (and at a higher price, go green gouging!).

And what am I sending the supplies in this year? A reusable bag. Continue Reading »

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I’ve got some things around that are quite trashy. I’m pretty pack ratty, as I’ve admitted before, but I think I am and can stay a far pace away from hoarding … but you never know.

I’ve got tea bag wrappers. No reason to save them, but they smell so nice. And I came up with a use for them. But not the time to use them in.

I’ve got old mailing envelopes. Some can be reused, some can’t. The “can’ts” can be reused in other ways, but I want to do more research on Tyvek before I get into it. I had hoped to have a nice long piece about Tyvek tonight, but I was thwarted by bad javascript. :( I understand DuPont wants to capture information about their users, but should I really have to fill out tons of personal information to read a PDF about the Tyvek life cycle? Continue Reading »

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Between getting organized for guests coming and going, sorting out all of my fabric into type for sewing, sticking close to home to tend roofers and kids with summer colds, I’ve finally rid myself of the giant laundry basket in the den, our seven-year old portable playpen.

Over its lifetime, it housed kids and cats, toys and laundry, bolts of fabric and the occasional birthday gift. Despite the manufacturer’s claims of less than a minute set-up time, negotiating all the bits into position usually took at least ten more minutes and three more inches in height than I have. Nothing like trying to ratchet the “pull and twist” mechanism while trying to not fall into the pen.

Despite the mostly fond memories, the time has come for departure and recycling. I hope someone picks it up to sell the metal tubing for scrap – but we have quite a parade here on Friday mornings, so I think it likely. If I knew where to recycle/sell the tubing or we didn’t have the informal pickups before the formal pickups, I would have taken a sledge and knife to it myself for recycling.

I can’t pass it on, because the wear of a dozen children, pets, and my own rough assembly finally caused something to give and break about a year ago. Not enough to get out of letting it hold “some laundry” for “just a little while”, but enough to catch all the clutter I could throw its way.

Two weeks ago, we finally broke it down, and disabled it as much as possible to discourage its unsafe reuse for children. If I’d thought it through enough, I would have kept the netting to reuse for a project; I didn’t think of one until I finally laid it on the curb for bulk pickup. Too little, too late.

Goodbye, Clutter Catcher of Doom. Good riddance, and dang you held a lot of laundry.

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[Think of a something Thursday!]

Growing up, we had a huge cake box full of cookie cutters. We’d get them out once or twice a year, taking over the kitchen to make COOOKIES. Great busy, messy fun during the summer and winter breaks. But excavating them was a major chore. And the box usually sat around until all the cutters were washed and put up – usually a few days or even weeks (eep!).

I was pretty good about cookie cutters at first, but they seemed to take up an awful lot of space in the “whatever” drawer (Which reminds me – any use for corn holders? I’ve given up on those little stabby knobs.). The cutters spread to the boxed lunch area (cute sandwich shapes!) and the toaster oven (ghostest toastest with the mostest!). I did a quick purging of the kitchen and came up with a count of seventeen, and I know that doesn’t even cover the ones in our art bins. Continue Reading »

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