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Eco-resort in next Bond film
The latest Bond film has a villain posing as an environmentalist as he attempts to seize control of the world’s water supply.…
April 7, 2008
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The latest Bond film has a villain posing as an environmentalist as he attempts to seize control of the world’s water supply.…
04-02-08
Today, actually it was yesterday as this is being typed after midnight (grin), yes I do tend to be a night owl at times, anyhoo, it was a good day, we had planned on going into Alpine, it’s a bit of a drive, but that is where the closest dentist is located. Bob had a dental appointment, on the way out of the neighborhood, we stopped at the country store and talked to a few people, the store owner found out we were going into town and offered to let us use her minivan, we greatfully accepted, our bug is running a bit rough, it needs some work, it’s fine for running around the neighborhood, at worst, if we break down, there will be someone along in pretty short order to give us a ride home :) We took the van and started out, I forgot to grab my keys so we didn’t have the mailbox key, bummer, oh well, it will just have to wait… We drove to Alpine, got to the dentist, Bob talked to him a bit, we are trading some artwork for payment, it’s a bronze sculpture that Bob’s mom made, it is very nice! It seems he liked it, he did say he usually collects paintings and drawings, not so much in sculpture, but he seemed to accept the deal, we made another appointment and left.
We took advantage of being in a town with actual stores (!) to make some purchases, we went to a Family Dollar store and stocked up on items we can’t get where we live, ok I exaggerate, we could get some of these items in our local grocery store, but it would cost quite a lot more and we wouldn’t have had the same selection. We spent over $100 there, but we came out with bags and bags of food, next we went to the lumber yard and got some building material. After that, we stopped at McDonald’s, yes, I know it’s really bad for you to eat, but I haven’t had any kind of “fast food” since before we moved out here in December, and I was soooooo ready to eat a greasy burger and fries! I did get a side salad to go with my artery clogging cheeseburgers and small fries, I drank water too, no soft drinks for me, I gave them up years ago, if I drink on now, it’s just too much, too many bubbles, to strong a flavor, it assaults my mouth, so I don’t miss that at all, I don’t know how I drank them before, yuck!
After that we drove home, went by our place to drop off the booty, and took the van back, I am so thankful to have had the use of that van, our bug probably would have made it just fine, but it was still …
Author of “How to Live Off-Grid” gets double page spread in Independent newspaper to expound his philosophy and explain why he bought a Majorcan mountain hideaway.…
Thought it was time to update some of our previous posts. Since we started this journey back in October we have run across some amazing movements, events, products, and people and we wanted to check in on them and see how things have gone.
Make It Right 9 of New Orleans has raised funds to build 81 of their proposed 150 homes. We are still waiting on word whether we can sponsor our own home. So check back or if you can’t wait please visit them and donate to a worthy cause. You can also visit them to find out more about the amazing people and organizations that are involved in this opportunity to not only give someone a helping hand but to help show that being self-sufficient in our resource needs can be done in today’s world community wide.
Our Hollywood Going Green? post back in November was about a convention being held in December. I know I said I would wait for the movie so guess what they have posted their presentations. Now to find the time watch them! If you do or attended let us know what you think. We will be starting a thread at the forum about them.
We Love It’s Not easy Being Green was about the BBC show on a family transforming an old farmhouse to their off-grid utopia. We haven’t seen anything about another season but the charity they started The Big Green Idea has continued on. Starting in summer 2008 they plan to have a green double decker bus touring the UK to let people have hands on experiences of products used to get off-grid, while also offering movie and documentary viewings. Even though these sites are geared for the UK they are a great source of ideas to bring across the “pond”.
Ava Solar from our $1 per watt of Soalr Energy post has been moving froward on mass production of their new panels. “ We are very happy with our initial pre-production runs and have decided to move up production plans on our existing manufacturing line,” said Pascal Noronha, President and CEO of AVA Solar. “Although this will be relatively limited production, we intend to accelerate our production learning curve and get our products into the market faster than we thought possible last year.” They have also announced that instead of building a new manufacturing plant in Fort Collins they will be using an existing physicality in Northern Colorado which helped speed up the production time-line.
In December we wanted you to Help Focus The Nation. The online web-cast had problems as many more than anticipated people, groups, and institutions logged on to be part of it. Though they then made it available to watch anytime. We admit that we were part of the unfortunate ones that had problems and were kicked out of the live cast. …
Just a few of our “neighbors” coming out for a visit. These are mule deer, they have large ears like a mule. These are very friendly, sometimes too much so, they will come pretty close to see if you have anything to feed to them. I throw a few crackers to them on occasion, I don’t want them to be hanging around too much though, they are wild animals and will get aggressive, especially when it comes to food. This is right outside my door, I was cooking dinner outside that day, I turned around and there they were.
We also have white tailed deer, but they are much more skittish around people, they literally turn tail (up) and run at the mere site, sound or smell of humans.
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Earth Day, April 22, 2008, is less then a month away and I though t this would be the perfect time to ask: What have you done in the past year to improve your and our environment?
This is more of a thinking exercise then to put anyone on the spot. I try to use Earth Day as my mark to see how I have changed my habits and living to be healthier both for my family and I and for the Earth as a whole. I will be writing a more in depth article on April 22 and hope that is you have a blog you will join with me about how I did change the world for good this past year.
I have to say that this year has been pretty productive as I completed changing over all my light bulbs (I only changed them after the old ones stopped working), insulated exposed pipe and duct work, finished changing my cleaning supplies over to non-toxic/organic, and started this site to help convert and inform others of the benefits of going green and getting of the grid. I still need to plant my gardens, a herb, vegetable, and a berry, but they have been cleared and just need tiling and the compost added.
My plans for the upcoming year is to install a solar water heater and if I’m really lucky and on the ball solar panels. Also I intended to be more involved in getting others to understand the benefits of being self-sufficient in today’s world. I have to admit that I don’t take the pushy approach but the education one. This seems to work the best for me.
Did I ever mention that my husband wasn’t to thrilled about the idea of taking our family off the grid? All he saw in the beginning was the expense and the extra work it would require to do it. Now though after being pulled along he is almost as excited as I am. He is actually researching on his own and even helping with the home improvements (not one of my husbands loves) which just shows that once people are shown the benefits they don’t just jump on the train but actually drive it.
Speaking of information and change I stumbled on a story about a Stanford law professor trying to change the way Congress works. A site called Change Congress is trying to take wiki approach to congress to make it more transparent and keep track of our politicians and their pledges. It looks to be in the very early stages but if we all get behind it that could change very quickly. I have joined their emailing list and hope to hear good things from them soon. Along with that Breathing Earth made quite an impact. It shows carbon dioxide emission level of every country in a …
Mayor Livingstone campaigns for re-election on pledge to take London off-grid immediately in order to save energy. But admits UK government will not currently allow this.…
Update on the well problems, so far so good, the water still has some particulates in it, and it still smells faintly of chlorine, but it is still running strong and is clear (not muddy). We think the particulates and chlorine odor will clear out with use.
Not much new, just been working on improving the cabin, Bob took these pix a few days ago, enjoy!
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Chilean President Bachelet allows diesel generator owners a tax refund to encourage more off-grid power generation…
03-04-08
We had an interesting few days, it’s been warm, nice, perfect weather, then yesterday, it snowed, all day, but it was so light that it didn’t really stick, it was pretty though, nothing like seeing snow in the high desert mountains. :) Sorry, no pix of the snow, I took the day off from everything, I got up long enough to eat and use the toilet, it was a very lazy day for me, I slept most of the day. By the time I got up for good, the sun had come out and the snow that did stick, had mostly melted off. We ate dinner at our neighbor’s house and had a pretty good time, good food, good company, TV and the internet, what more could one ask for? ;)
Last weekend, we went to our friend’s new place, I have a few pix of us, Bob and I and our neighbor (who is our very best friend out here!), we are sitting on top of another mountain, I took the opportunity to take a pic of myself, I hate having my picture taken, I tend to hide behind the camera (grin), but I am fairly happy with the pictures (mark it on the calendar, that doesn’t happen very often).
Here’s Bob
Here’s Bob and our neighbor (and very good friend)
Anyhoo, we have been helping our friends get their house ready to be lived in, it’s an 80s model single wide mobile home, it’s not too bad, a little water damage, mostly on the edges of the floor, we helped pull carpet (shag carpet), paint walls and clean. This place had been empty for many years and it had been home to mice and various other animals, they caught a ring tailed cat inside too, they are messy, nasty creatures, at least if they are inside your house they can be… It will be a cute place when they are finished with it. They are getting 11 acres on top of a mountain, very pretty view but the ride up is pretty rough, you almost have to have 4 wheel drive, our bug does it pretty well, I can’t imagine driving up and down every day though. Oh, I almost forgot, they fed us a great BBQ meal for helping, we would have done it anyway, but it was nice to eat a good meal with good friends and a great view.
Here is the view from their property
Today, we went to town, we were going to the post office, and missed it by 13 minutes! Darn, small towns, I forget that they roll up the sidewalks earlier in the day. We will have to go again tomorrow, bummer, it’s quite a drive into town, heck it’s a 12 mile round trip just to go to the mail boxes out by the main road. Oh well… …
02-29-08
I have more pix:
This is our cabin from the opposite side of the valley from us, can you see the cabin? If you can, then you have super vision or are very psychically gifted.
Here is the same pic with the cabin pointed out, yeah I know, not very clear, but it’s the best my cell phone camera does. :)
After we got back from town the other day, Bob didn’t want to carry the cement powder (100 pounds) and all the groceries across the creek and up the hill, so he just brought the bug across, it took a few tries to get up the hill, but he made it.
Finally up the hill and parked in front of the cabin.
Congrats on your (edited). Just make sure that she does not leave an (edited) to your name for (edited) to follow. (edited to remove stuff-nothing against oldman).
March 20, 2008 6:29 AM
I think she has that all taken care of…she hates paperwork, besides, I will not be (edited) enough to worry (edited).
Wretha
March 25, 2008 10:17 AM