notes from an urban ecosystem

Oil

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:33:15 -0500

Rate Oil Companies for Sustainability?

I don't have much time at the moment to write about this, but BP is out on top, as usual.

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Moth-Proof

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:28:19 -0500

Usually, when I am shopping at my local yarn store (LYS), I do not think that much about labels. It's not like going to the co-op. Sure, I have to check for yardage, fiber content, and dye lots, but I don't have to think about chemicals and things that are bad for me. Aside from acrylic. Right?

Yeah, not so much.

I had never heard of moth proofing until recently. When I read about it, I thought, "Well, that's unnecessary use of chemicals," and I forgot about it.

Then a friend and I made a stop at a LYS where we have never been, and I was seduced by a skein of Lambs' Pride Bulky. It's this gorgeous variegated green. I found two other coordinating skeins, and I thought I could make something beautiful with them. I figured out what that was, and I started on the project.

Then I looked at the label.

DSC05068

Permanently. Mothproofed.

Moth-proofing is done when they dye the yarn, so the stuff, called Mitin FF, is in there to stay. The federal government says that it has low to moderate toxicity and low mammalilan toxicity, but I still think it's unnecessary, and I want to stay away from it. I'll keep this yarn and finish the project. It's not for the boy, it's for me. Besides, the federal government is dragging its heels on BPA and the parabens, so I think I will be a maverick and blaze my own trail.

As it were.

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No More AAA: Let's See if this is Better

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:38:38 -0600

It was a hard thing to do, and I still feel a little weird about it, but today, I dumped the American Automobile Association.

As far back as I can remember, everyone in my family has been a member of "The Three A's" as my grandfather calls it. I think I enrolled when I graduated from college. Free maps, travelers' cheques, discounts on hotels, lock-out assistance, towing, and jumpstarts, and less clean air.

Yup, apparently, AAA lobbys. It lobbies on behalf of motorists, and I think it believes I am a member of their organization because I am a motorist, when really, all I do is drive a car sometimes, I like free maps, and I often leave my lights on.

It lobbied against the Clean Air Act in 1990. It lobbied against stronger air quality standards, vapor traps, stronger tailpipe emission standards, and airbags. If it were lobbying against gasbags, then perhaps I would understand, but lobbying against things I am for? Yeah, no thanks. I just needed a tow because I am a dumbass, I don't need less safety features. It was great to know that an organization to which I have paid over a thousand dollars over the years has used that money to work against things I am for, and for things I am against.

That does not make sense in my consumer ethic. I don't buy Burt's Bees anymore because I don't buy bleach, and Clorox owns Burt's Bees, so why would I pay lobbyists for wider roads that encourage more driving, when I actually favor less?

No more.

I enrolled in the Better World Auto Club. It cost a few dollars less than AAA, and we'll see how it goes. It feels strange, like I am betraying an old friend, and I admit to being skeptical. Old habits die hard. But I don't think the Three A's will miss me much.

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CFL Recycling!

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:08:18 -0500

If you live in Minnesota, you are lucky:

There's now a free adn easy location to take your used compact fluorescent lights (CFL)! Our local Menards stores are joining the Center for Energy and Environment and Great River Energy in a recycling program that launches today (June 9).

Drop 'em off at the service desk at any Menard's.

(In other news, I have not been posting much to this blog because we had a very early arrival on May 29. That news is here.)

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local food

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:37:07 -0500

Trying to eat in season and source locally produced food can be tough, especially if you live in a northern clime. Epicurious has this map to help us out. Here in Minnesota, we have asparagus and rhubarb right now, though we can get many things from South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. We also have local hydroponic growers who supply salad greens year round, and we often have vine-on tomatoes as well. My co-op lists the source of our produce, making it easier to identify local produce. I have also noticed that Whole Foods has started putting signs up to denote products on their shelves that are local. Yesterday at the co-op I bought Wisconsin green garlic and Minnesota tomatoes.

Another great site for farmers' markets, restaurants who use locally produced and/or organic food, CSA's, and farms, among other things is local harvest. I have certainly mentioned it before, but it has come in handy for me more than once.

Outside at our house, I have put in some peas, but I have not gotten around to the corn, beans, and squash. It's been busy, and it was in the 40's again last night. I think I may have had a dream about the corn, though... I have a green corn seed that is so lovely...

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Spring in the Garden

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:20:12 -0500

Spring in Minnesota is a tenuous and welcome occurrence. Every year, we forget that winter lasts longer than we remembered, and we are shocked by April freezes and snow in May. We think that it was different last year, until the weather guy on public radio tells us differently. Every year, this was the longest winter. Every year, Spring is slower to come.

What I do remember from last year is that it was 17 degrees in April, after the pasque flowers had started blooming, after an eighty degree day, after we had so naively nestled into Spring. Everything died back. The apple tree didn't do much as far as bearing fruit in fall. The pasque flowers gave up. Everything had to start over.

Pasque Flower Bud

Apple Blossom

This year, though it did snow in May, and it was in the forties most of the mornings this week, Spring has been steady and confident in its arrival. And as I relax into it and face a different kind of growing and planting season, I appreciate it even more than usual.

Prairie Smoke

Last year, I spent a lot of money on native plants, and I tore out a lot of non-natives, ferns, irises, and took out any tulip bulbs I could find. This Spring, I was wondering what would make it, and what would not. Of course, I not-so-smartly got rid of my list of purchased plants, but--smartly--I made some maps of what I put in. This is what the front slope looked like last year, after planting:

Frontslope

I don't think that the harebells, the blue-eyed grass, and the bearberry made it. At least one of the kittentails made it, and the rest of it looks pretty good.

Near the front door looked like this:

Porchcorner copy

The butterfly weed has not made an appearance yet, but I am still hopeful. I love this stuff; it has orange flowers.

The side of the house by the driveway is a good one. I jammed too much stuff in there, I know, but I knew that not everything would survive, and I pretty much garden like a crazy person:

Sidegarden collagesm

Can you see that?
I didn't think so. Suffice to say that it's a zoo in there this year. I don't think the swamp milkweed survived the Aphid Infestation of 2007, I am not sure about the joe pye weed, the prairie clover, the ironweed, or the butterfly weed; but there will be plenty of flowering plants in there, though I will have to keep an eye out for the powdery mildew, which was a problem last year. Those plants are in there really close together.

The squirrels decimated my shrubs, chewing off most of the hazelnut bush that I have had for five years, breaking branches on the highbush cranberry that went in at the same time, and reducing two other new shrubs whose names I cannot remember to practically nothing. It's very frustrating, and there seems to be nothing I can do about it.

This year, due to pregnancy and uncertainty about construction, I wait and watch. I will keep up with weeding and watering, but I am only putting in a few seeds and herbs. I don't have to worry about vegetables because the folks at Driftless Organics will be taking care of that. The List of Goodness we will be getting from them is almost overwhelming.

The thing I like best about our garden is the watching and waiting. Walking around it, looking at what is new.

Violets

Seeing that this year has been a very good year for violets.

Milo's Violets

And that the strawberries seem to be protected from the bunnies, so far...

Strawberry Blossom

A couple of tulips survived the purge, one red one and this pink one that never bloomed before:

Tulip

Max loves Spring and the Opening of the Windows, and this year, he is not marking the house like he did last year...

MaxMax

The lilacs have started to bloom, and their fragrance lingers around the front door, welcoming us when we come home, and sending us off when we leave...

Lilacs

The ferns and the bluebells are coming along, though the bluebells are early and transient...

Fern

Virginia Bluebells

And Fritz believes himself to be an outside cat now, and expects to come outside with us when we sip coffee and tea on the back stoop... Next year, we can hang out on the upstairs deck or the back porch...

Fritz

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Not just another pretty face

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:59:19 -0500

Let's go inside the house, shall we?

Main floor:

main floor

Ahhh... I love this. Let's go from front to back, shall we? The porch steps change to the front because I don't like
the way they are now. The porch is just a big box slapped on front of the house, and I feel it closes the house off from the front garden and from the neighborhood:

house now

Then there's that big enormous horrible car-door-banging cement wall with stairs. It all needs to go. Pete can't wait to take a sledgehammer to The Wall. The new way, you would come up the steps from the sidewalk and up the stairs onto the porch, then right to the front door. There would be a path from the driveway over.

Once inside the front door, you would be in a more open space. We are taking out the wall that divides the guest room from the living room, and turning that space into a media room. This will also allow us more space to come inside, especially in winter when we are tracking in snow. Right now, we are practically falling over each other when we get home.

The entry way into the kitchen will move over a couple of feet, allowing for counter/dishwasher/sink/refrigerator on that side, stove on the other. The back door will move over as well, allowing for a little entry way back there. We get windows on the south and a little benchy nooky area where the dining table will go. I love benchy nooky areas. The stairs go up from the kitchen, and the washer/dryer are stacked underneath them, which will be bliss. Ok, not bliss, but it will be pretty cool. With a little sink next to it, for rinsing out poopies if necessary because I hear you don't want to do that in the kitchen sink.

The stair area is open to the upstairs.

upper

There are nice windows, a great study area for the computer, an upstairs deck, a *moment of silence* walk-in closet, two bedrooms, and a bathroom with a shower. I can hardly believe that this could be our house.

Granted, a lot of it will be unfinished and/or imperfect, but... so am I!

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Don't hate me because I'm beautiful...

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:21:30 -0500

I have always thought of our house looking, in the end, like a little prairie-style-mission-arts-and-crafts bungalow, and I have done sketches based on that vision.

It was interesting, then, for me to come to this meeting with the architects and be faced with this:

Front

Modern, updated, contemporary. Many things that I am not, my love of gear and technology notwithstanding. That's the front of the house, with the porch stairs moved. I was a little surprised by it, but it quickly grew on me. Basically, I am fine with all of it, except for the front windows. I can't get over the upstairs front windows, and I don't know what it is that I need to be different. I think they are too narrow and cyclops-y. I'll have to see if making changes to them changes too much on the structural side of things.

I think that it's red. Red and white. Hey! Maybe we should go red, white, and blue; you know, for election year!

Just kidding.

When I say red and white, I mean that the trim would be red. I think that the horizontal siding is one shade of red and the rest is another. I am not sure yet, but we can do fun things with the colors. I just... yeah. I need those windows to be different, somehow. I thought I would get used to it, but I have not.

The meeting was good, though. Those meetings always are. The architects are cool and smart, so is Cheri, the builder, and the atmosphere is casual and fun. Plus, we get a lot of things done, and we always feel positive when we leave.

The only problem is, it almost always snows when we go there...

They showed us the plans and "walked us through the house" on the computer. Of course, it looks HUGE, both in the drawings and on the screen, and I have to remind myself that it's really not that big, though our square footage will more than double. The footprint does not increase very much, however. I don't lose a lot of important garden space, and the stuff I am losing will not be missed. You'll see what I mean.

This is the south side of the house, by the driveway:

South

See? It just looks really big. OK. The only thing I want different here is the back porch, but I'll show you that in a bit. The siding is fiber-cement. We are not sure what is under the masonite siding that's currently there, but if anything underneath is salvageable, I hope we can do something with it. The first five windows from the front of the house are original. The sixth would have to have its sill raised because the sink will be there. The last two are entirely new. Right now, that's a big blank space on the 1961 kitchen addition, and I really want some light coming in there. Upstairs, that's a deck over the kitchen addition, and I think we will get a lot of use out of it. We don't have the garden space to have a deck, and isn't a deck supposed to be up higher, anyway? I can gaze at the plants from there. And watch the birds. Right now, there's just an empty roof cap there. Who knows what might be living in it...

This is the back of the house:

Back

So you see that bit, from about the line in the center, over to the right? That's all new, and it will take out yard space, as will the porch that comes out from it. But the stuff taken over by the new door is unused space right now, and there really is not where the porch will go, either. Here, though, are where my porch problems come in. I have been trying to get across my idea of a low, open back porch, but I must not have been clear. So I found a picture of what I want:

Back porch ex

Our backyard is all garden, and I want the house to interact with it. I see a low porch without a railing, but covered, perhaps with a trellis that our grapes can grow on. Although I really love the rooflines and windows on the house in the picture.

This is the north side of the house:

north

I hardly ever see this side of the house... so I don't have much to say about it.

Next post, we'll go inside.

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Scrooge

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:48:32 -0500

I was not expecting to walk into the bank with a plan and walk out with a check. I was expecting some sound advice, options, and maybe some encouragement.

By the time we left, I felt like we were never going to be able to do this. The weather was contributing to the malaise with a pathetic fallacy, seeming to mirror my mood with a sharp cold wind and small flakes of snow on April 10. I was ready to give up the ghost, it was so discouraging.

Have you ever felt like you were talking and talking and were pretty sure that you were making sense, but the responses you were getting back seemed to have nothing to do with what you thought you had said, so you started to wonder if perhaps you were being unclear or were losing your mind?

That's what this was like.

It does not help that pregnancy makes you stupid, and sometimes makes it harder to arrange your thoughts.

We explained our project, gave her numbers, and she gave us home equity lines of up to 35 thousand, balloons, and the news that they no longer did refinancing. She rattled off possibilities and numbers, did not explain enough for me, and generally delivered all information in a " I hate to tell you that you have two months to live" sort of tone. It was discouraging, disheartening, and frustrating. I am well aware of the mortgage climate, falling home values, and market instability. We were not looking for someone to blow smoke up our collective arse, but we were looking for reality, and what she gave us was more of an "It was a dark and stormy night" portrayal.

We came to our architects and builder the next day feeling like we had bad news, in the face of their excitement over their great new plans for the elevations and exterior of the house.

We came out feeling hopeful.

That's next.

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Revisiting the Remodel

nobody@vox.com(kittywhumpus) — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:37:39 -0500

When last we left our little remodeling project, we were expecting some numbers, and we had some assignments...

I looked into materials, chose a few things, and picked out a washer and dryer; we sent in our radon test and our asbestos test (our siding is probably asbestos), and Cheri sent us cost estimates.

My assignment results:
Decking: The recycled plastic sounds/looks good to me, or the composite wood/plastic
www.plasticboards.com (worthington, mn)
www.hammersplastic.com (iowa falls)
www.mastermark.com (albany, mn)
Siding: Fiber cement or reclaimed wood siding
www.duluthtimber.com (duluth, mn; reclaimed wood source)
Washer/Dryer: LG WM2487H 27x39x29 3/4
LG DLE7177 29 1/2 x 43 5/16 x 31 5/16 (this is an electric dryer)
Dishwasher: I like the Fisher and Paykel Compact drawer models (DS605I). I have finally accepted that dishwashers are more efficient than handwashing, but I have not accepted that they are irretrievably ugly. I don't mind this so much.
Atomic dumpsters does indeed sort and collect aggregate, untreated lumber and wooden pallets, metals, and cardboard. I am wondering what happens to shingles and other roofing materials that are removed.
The Marvin Integrity windows look pretty good.
Shingles: I would like to stay away from asphalt. Recycled plastic? Fiber cement?
Flooring: Bamboo and Marmoleum look good to me
Are there resources in the Twin Cities for FSC certified wood for construction?

The (padded) price tag looks like this:

Addition/2^nd story – 215k
Media room/hall built-in – 5.4k
Kitchen- 13k (includes replaced supply lines)
1^st floor bath/water heater/replaced supply lines – 7k
Siding - 10.5k
Front porch roof – 3k
Appliance budget – 4.7k
Homeowner savings by doing painting (except for prime), stain, and 2^nd floor base – 22k
Repair 1^st floor windows/storms/screens - 10k
Total – 290.6k

I also resketched the front of the house:

Slide1

Clearly, I have a Little House on the Prairie complex, even though I hated the show, and I have never read the book.

Next up: a disappointing meeting with our bank, a fun meeting with Shelter and Cheri, and a whole new direction for the house...

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