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April 22, 2008
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Today is Earth Day. We hope that everyone has an enjoyable day and helps to spread the word that self-sustainable living is a great way to help save the world, your health and even your wallet.
This past year we have completed the energy efficiency part of getting of our home off the grid plan. We have also starting purchasing our solar panels that will be installed hopefully before Earth Day 2009. We have been more vocal about our choice to become green and off-grid. Started this blog to get information out about alternative/renewable energy, being energy efficient, going green. Even got to the Earth Day celebration by Green Apple Festivals in Washington D.C. Let Washington know that we wanted the environment to be on the front burner, not the back.
Using our information on green and sustainability and sharing it is one of the best ways to bring about change. If we can help one person to rethink the “normal” way of using resources to run their home then we have made a significant change. Have a great day!
See RecycleCindy bag she made for Earth Day
PS You cn help others this Earth Day by donating to the Make it Right 9 foundation. Click the link below to donate to the Eco Friendly Home. Help people in New Orleans rebuild to a more sustainable home.
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First I want to thank everyone who joined the PTC sites from my links below, this will not only make money for you, it will help me tremendously, the money earned goes toward my internet expenses, it helps to keep me on line and posting here. :) If you have any questions about how to use the PTC sites, or want to know some tricks that I use to make more money (all LEGAL, I don’t do anything that would jeopardize my membership), just drop me a note via email
wretha @ gmail . com (remove the spaces)
and I’ll be more than happy to help. :)
Phone
I went ahead and ordered the Magic Jack, I figured it would be the best thing to do, if it works for me (and I hope it does), I can drop my cell phone and will not have that expense every month, I will have only one yearly charge for the phone service. The only problem with it so far is they do not have a local phone number for me, so I’ll just get a phone number that is local for my friends and family back in the DFW area, that will not be any different from what I have now with my cell phone. The startup cost on it was about $50.00, that paid for the unit, the shipping and the first year’s service. I did pay a bit extra to get the expedited shipping, I normally don’t do that, but it gave me a tracking number so I will know when it gets to my mail box, we don’t check our mail box very often, it’s a 12+ mile round trip to the mailbox, on twisty, winding, up and down rocky dirt roads. MJ is giving a 30 day free trial, they don’t charge your credit card until about day 31, I’m not sure if that is from the date ordered or the date delivered, either way I should know within a day or so when it shows up in my mail box so I can start using it as soon as possible. When we were in town the other day, I picked up a cheap corded phone, we left all of our phones in Irving when we moved, we didn’t figure we would need them out here, my how things can change… :)
The Garden
We have been working hard on the garden to get it ready to plant, I wish I could have planted before now, but we didn’t have the fencing complete, and I can’t run the risk that something would get in and tear things up.
We just got back in from working on the fencing for the last couple of hours, we were putting up the chicken wire over the top to keep the birds out. We got most of it covered, we …
This years Green Apple Festival celebrating Earth Day still went on despite the rain. At least for a few hours anyway. When the lightening started it was time to start shutting down. Now we can’t say for sure if it over or hoping to wait out the rain as we left when the downpour turned torrential and lightening was regular.
Though it was nice and even the children enjoyed the 3 plus hours we had down there. The speakers were varied and from around the world. Showing that the Earth is not just important to us here in the United States. We were able to visit about half of the exhibitors that were included in the Earth Day Celebration, the other half was a combination of weather and not seeing the rest of the booths across the street. If we hadn’t been huddling under the tents to keep out of the rain we probably would have noticed the second section. Of course we noticed after the heavy rain appeared and had to call the rest of the day a bust.
Also happenig at the Mall was an expo on sustainable living with exhibits put on by colleges. It was very interesting to walk through and see what ideas were being tried out to improve not only our environment but also awareness of the general public. That one we visited on the way in, meaning we were to early for all the booths to be manned and/or ready so not as much information from it was gotten. Though we did find some interesting things that will also be in upcoming posts.
We need to do some more research so we’re not just rehashing the spiel we got from the spokespeople at these great events. We found great ideas such as purifying water with a simple handheld device to running sport cars on solar panels, to playing games to raise awareness, to home improvement and construction companies who make green their only business. So much was available that we hope that others were able to join in on celebrations in their local areas.
Don’t forget that today is a day of noise! Let your elected officials (and hopefuls too!) know that not only do we care about the world we live in but that being able to live in a home that is healthy, self-sufficient is just as important to us. If we don’t tell them they’re not going to be knocking on your door to ask. It’s our responsibility to keep and demand programs that help the average joe to be informed and even give a helping hand so that legislation doesn’t disappear now that people are trying to improve their homes.…
Don’t forget that the Earth Day Celebration near you is this Sunday. You can click on the countdown on the right or here to see what celebration you can walk, bike, skate, etc. to. You can then go to Green Apple Festivals and see your venue. You will get a list of bands, speakers and exhibitors so you can see who is out there to help us make a change.
Then Don’t Forget to follow the day of celebration and information with a day of action. Make some calls to your mayor, local council, governor, state congress, White House (202.456.1111) and Capitol Hill (202.224.3121). Join with others as we make so much noise that the powers that be stop and listen to what we’re telling them. Our voices have gotten stronger in the last couple of years but we need to keep getting louder. Until we’re heard over the money from big interest, that can be hurt by acting responsible for our environment.
Then on Tuesday, April 22, if you have a blog, website, or any other outlet let the world know what you’ve done. If you don’t have your own outlet then join a forum and let them know. Then wish everyone you see Happy Earth Day. The more people who are touched and reminded on Earth Day the more that can become new recruits for making a difference to our Earth.
If you are going to be writing this Earth Day leave a comment or go to the forum and respond to the Earth Day Blog thread and we’ll make sure to link to you in our Earth Day post.…
Blatantly asking for your help, if you want to… :)
Before I moved out here, I checked on ways to make money on line, all I wanted to do was make enough to pay for my internet habits (ISP, domains, hosting…). A few months before we moved, I found a way to earn money from clicking ads on websites. Not just any websites though, these sites are called “PTC” or “Pay To Click” sites, these sites basically pay you to click on ads, the ads usually open up in a new tab or window and you have to keep that tab or window open for 30 seconds (some less, some more), many of them then ask you to type in a randomly created code, or ask you to click on a link to close the window, this proves you kept the ad page opened for the requested length of time. Generally you get paid a penny (1 cent) per ad, some pay even better than that, 1.5 to 2 cents per ad, some do email ads (they send the ad to your email address) and those usually pay more, up to 5 cents per ad.
I have all the PTC sites I belong to bookmarked, I open each on in a new tab (I use Firefox, you can do the same thing with Explorer), I sign in to each one, them I click on an ad for the first one, it opens in a new tab, then I go to the second PTC site, I click on an ad, it opens up in a new tab, I continue doing this until I have cycled through all the PTC sites I belong to, then I go to the first ad tab that opened up, by then, usually the timer has counted down, I do actually look at the page, the advertiser did just pay you to actually look at their site so it’s only fair to them to look at the page. Then I do whatever is required to prove I looked at the page, some ask you to click on something to close the page, some ask you to type in a randomly generated code, some just say the time is up, you can close the window/tab. I do that for each ad that is opened, then I repeat the whole thing until no more ads are available to be clicked on. Some of the PTC sites have lots of ads to click on each day, some not as much, I check these sites each time I get on the internet, once the ads are exhausted, I refresh the page from time to time to check and see if there are any new ads to click on. Some of these sites also have other ways to make money, many of them have paid surveys, some have paid offers (some free, …
Lost
I have spent the last 2 days catching up on one of the few TV shows I watch, Lost, I used to watch this show every week with my Dad, it is “our” show. I think about my dad as I watch the show, it makes me happy and sad at the same time. Anyhoo, wow! That show is getting weirder and weirder each season, for those of you who watch that show, you understand what I am talking about. I just finished watching the episode where Kate gets out of jail and goes home to her baby, I was wondering if the baby was Jack’s or James’ baby, when I saw the blond hair, I thought, yeah it’s James’, then she called the baby Aaron, that pretty much means it’s belongs to neither of them. I’ll wait until this evening to watch the rest of the shows, I think there is 2 maybe 3 more to go then I’ll be caught up, it’s hard to tell exactly how many are left the way ABC does their shows, each show is duplicated once, the original show, and an enhanced version, the enhanced version has, hmmm what do I call it, subtitles? Not for what the actors are saying, but it sort of states what is going on, so and so is lying, Hurley’s driving the car (this was stated before you could see the driver), I watched one show like that, and I decided I didn’t like it, I don’t want to know what is happening before it happens, it’s worse than sitting beside someone in a theater who announces what is about to happen before it happens, I LIKE the suspense. :)
Taxes
I did my taxes on line last night, blah! It took me about 3 or 4 hours to complete them, I used to be able to do the simple form, but not this time, it was more complicated, but I got it done and I’m glad it’s done, I’m glad I was able to do it on line, and I’m glad I was able to do it at my cabin instead of somewhere else.
Internet Update
I checked the speed of my connection today:
4-15-08
4:14 pm
Download Speed: 2194 kbps (274.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 467 kbps (58.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
5:43
Download Speed: 1591 kbps (198.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 349 kbps (43.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
It tends to vary from time to time, but wow! I can’t complain a bit about the speed.…
I’m soooo excited, I am writing this from MY cabin on MY internet connection, I am soooo happy! The installers, a very nice couple, locals who live close by came out this morning, I met them at the road and directed them to my neighbor’s driveway, walking up to our cabin from his house is much easier. It took about half an hour to hook it up, it’s a very small box on the outside of the cabin, we have a perfect line of sight to the tower from the cabin, I tested the speed and it shows:
Download Speed: 2208 kbps (276 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 364 kbps (45.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
I tested it 2 times to see what it would do, I’m pretty happy with the connection. The first thing we did was go to wbap.com and listened to Rush Limbaugh, Bob has been really missing his daily Rush fix ever since we moved out here. You should see the smile on his face! Plus we get to hear the local news for the DFW area, tonight I will listen to Coast to Coast am, I haven’t been able to hear that since we moved here either, I promise I will be smiling just as big as Bob when I hear George Noory or whoever is hosting the show tonight… :) :) :)
Bob is working outside the window, he is painting the deck that will be the floor of our bedroom, hopefully he will have the bedroom finished by this weekend. I’ll post more pix when it’s completed.
Sundance channel has started it’s second season of their regular programming called The Green. The Green is both on TV and interactive by way of the web. Programming for this Tuesday includes one of our old favorites It’s Not Easy Being Green, Big Ideas for a Small Planet, The Sierra Club Chronicles, as well as shorts about being an “ecoist” and eco-business.
The Greenis the first programming that is prime time (9 pm) to showcase shows, documentaries, movies that all have the environment as their main concern. This is a wonderful place to catch up on the latest in the environment, going green, living green, or being responsible for your environment. This is also supported by an online community effort to help connect those interested in being eco-friendly and to do business with those who also promote a more responsible and/or self-sustainable way of life. Their online community, called the Eco-mmunity, has an interactive map where you can locate others in your local area and even mark your place in the world. Making it easier for you to connect with others that share your interest or has a product or service you’re looking for.
Seeing the environment and being self-sustaining becoming more of a concern for everyday Americans is very refreshing. Now when people are discussing the environment and going green they no longer seem to have that “look”, you know the one where they think your missing a few marbles, when I speak up and give them pointers or answer questions they have been wondering about. Telling people that how much we lowered our gas & electric bill this winter by just becoming efficient and insulating everywhere we could think of inspired them to start doing it to. Talking about using alternative energy, whether as an individual or by purchasing from alternative power companies, gave people a pause and for some the incentive to look more into it.
I truly believe that we can each live off the grid and still maintain, though improve is more like it, our current standard of living. You don’t have to sacrifice your computer, TV, satellite or cable, dishwasher, phone, iPod, or any other of the multitude of thing you just can’t see living without. Of course when you hear what it is to be quite, you just may wonder why all those things were so important. Especially when you hear the laughter of your children, the singing of the birds, the whisper of the wind, and the trickle of a stream. Those sounds that have been drowned out by today’s hectic lifestyle are still there waiting to be heard again.…
I can’t wait for Monday, that is not something you normally hear from most people, Monday usually means the end of the weekend (free time) and the start of the work week, blah! But for me, Monday, this particular Monday will be a very happy day, why you ask? Because I am finally getting INTERNET hooked up at my cabin WOO HOO!
This was something I researched quite a bit before we moved out here, I found out that my choices were limited, I could get satellite (EXPENSIVE to start up and maintain, require at least a year contract, not as fast as I would like, unreliable, AND they meter your bandwidth which means no streaming videos, movies or large downloads), or I could get dial up (means the expense of getting a phone line, and toooo slow), there were no other options at the time. I have relied on my neighbor since I’ve gotten here to check my email and do a few things on line, he uses satellite and he doesn’t like it either, too expensive and not as reliable as it should be.
The other day at the store, I saw a notice on the board about a new internet out here, it’s run by locals, the start up costs are reasonable, and the monthly fees are reasonable, about half what satellite runs! And there are no contracts. It’s not satellite or dial up, it’s a microwave signal, we are right across the valley from the tower, line of sight thing, that means our connection should be good. According the the people hooking us up, it’s by far faster then satellite, much more reliable, no delays, and the best thing, no bandwidth metering! I can download/upload as much as I want! I told them up front that I am a bandwidth hog, I like to watch streaming movies and TV shows, I surf and download quite a lot, they said that was no problem, woo hoo! Can you tell that I am happy about this???
If this works out like I hope it will, I will get phone service through the internet and will drop my cell phone, it barely works out here, and eventually I will not be able to keep the current plan I have anyhow, I am still using the employee plan where I used to work, once my cell phone carrier finds out I no longer work there, they will not allow me to keep that plan, I figured I would have to let my phone go at that point anyhow, if I can get a good (cheap or free) phone service through the internet, that would work out better for me.
Anyone have any suggestions for online phone services, low cost or free? Or are there any I should stay away from? Please let me know. Thanks!
Hopefully the next time I …
If you are installing or have installed a photovoltaic (PV) system we have found some helpful resource to make it not only easier but safer for you and your home.
First if you are debating on installing the system as a DIY (do it yourself) then we found a resourced guide that can save you time and money and best of all it’s free. It is a guide on installing PV systems by the California Energy Commission as part of their Renewables Buydown Program. This guide is for the current state-of-the- art PV system installation, though revisions are set to made as the technology changes.
Second a telephone seminar on fire safety for PV systems will be held by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) on April 30, 2008 at 2pm EDT. Various fire districts throughout the U.S. have been raising concerns about the safety of fire fighters in building with PV systems over the last several years. Most of the concern was how to ventilate a roof that was cover in solar panels and how to disconnect the live circuits with out being shocked. This lead to the California Solar Energy Industries Association (Cal SEIA) working with the California State Fire Marshall’s office to develop meetings between representatives from the solar industry and others interested in fire protection. They worked out some guidelines for PV fire safety. These guidelines are focused on required area needed on rooftops for access of firefighters to ventilate the roof in event of fire. You need to pre-register but any interested parties are able to attend, you will then be sent the access phone number a week before the event.…
I found this site while looking for rocket stove info, there is a great video with detailed instructions on how to build a rocket stove, these stoves will burn smaller twigs, something I have lots of on my property, you can use less fuel, it’s clean and I hope to be able to use one to at least boil water, something we do a lot to make coffee and such. This site also has the Humanure Handbook and other great info, all free!
I plan on making a rocket stove in the near future, Bob has not been very excited about it though, he doesn’t think it will be “all that” or work as good as I think it will, I still want to make one though. I showed him the video and he saw that I am really interested in it, so he said to remind him next time we are in town so we can get the parts necessary to build it. I can’t wait!
Dragon said…
I have a few pictures of my portable rocket stove over at my blog.
https://circleoftheoroborous-dragon.blogspot.com/2008/04/barter-anyone.html
The pictures are of the smallest of the rocket stoves I’ve made. A few small sticks for fuel and it boils my morning coffee.
Bob sounds handy enuff to get one really cooking. You can tell him for me he will be surprised at how well they work.
feel free to email me with any questions about the stoves and I help all I can…Dragon
Wretha said…Thanks Dragon, I just read it on your blog, I know Bob can make one for me, he has agreed to make one for me, we just have to collect the stuff to make it, I have no doubt it will become a well used part of my kitchen, since the weather has gotten warmer, I am not using the wood stove to cook on, so we have been using propane, something we don’t want to have to rely on. I found a set of plans for a rocket stove bread oven, I really want to start baking bread again, I’m pretty good at it, it may even make us some extra “dough” too… :) You also gave me an idea about selling rocket stoves too, thanks!!!
Wretha
…
Woo Hoo!
I gotta find out if a similar service is offered up where my cabin is located… One can only hope. Dragon
April 14, 2008 1:18 PM
How wonderful that you will be able to get online anytime you want.
Happy for you,
Susie
April 14, 2008 3:27 PM
I could see the tower across the valley on the other mountain top from me, I didn’t know exactly what it was for, but I thought (hoped) it may be internet related, I had been asking around about it but no one seemed to know anything about it. It was apparently from a previous (now defunct) internet provider, I’m glad someone took it over and started new service. We have been listening to streaming radio and now streaming music, it’s great.
I hope you can get hooked up, it’s so much better than satellite or dial up.
Wretha
April 14, 2008 3:27 PM
We expect a lot more postings now you know! :)
April 15, 2008 10:36 AM
I know! Believe me, I’ll be posting a LOT more… :)
Wretha
April 15, 2008 1:25 PM