I have a green daughter

Mother's Day present from my thoughtful daughter. It is a recycled pot filled with drought resistant plants. How great is that? She really knows her momma.

Thanks lil bird.

My mother is Frog Clan

Frogs are good signs.
The Frog is a doctor and healer, seer,
and fortune-teller.
The Frog is a messenger of rain …

We need the Frog now.

Today is Earth Day so all you losers not recycling or saving water get with the damn program, will ya?

Last Friday darling companion and myself went to the local Farmer's Market and the city had a handful of booths set up to remind folks what to do. At every booth we both said, "We do that."

So what's left for us? We've cut our water and electric consumption way back. We ride public transportation and my darling rides his bike around town. We don't use plastic bags unless we recycle them so will you fat bastards get off the couch and recycle, now!

One last rant; to the designers and makers of washing machines: Now you come out with energy efficient machines. Where were you ten years ago?

To those of you that are already friendly to Mother Earth, thank you. Thank you very much and keep up the good work.

Getting help from a billionaire

This is interesting. A Texas Oil Billionaire, not running for office, wants to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. All the current administration wants to do is lift the ban of offshore oil drilling. Yeah, like we need more of that. We need to get off oil, foreign or domestic and find an alternative. This is a creative country why can't we spend some money on technologies that would do that?

In the coming weeks I'll be watching what ol' T.Boone has in store for a solution. You might want to take a look, too.

Hey, wipe your footprint

Some people wonder why I complain about oil prices since I drive a hybrid and get a solid 40 MPG in the summer; better when I don't need the air-conditioning. Yes, when you only fill up every two weeks it does insulate you from the near $5 a gallon but driving the Cushman (our little nickname for the Honda and you'd have to have driven one to understand why) doesn't help the delivery costs for everything we consume.

The Cafe of the Getty Center has started something quite interesting. It's called a Low Carbon Diet. This is a committed program by Bon Appétit, a nationwide food management group to lower their carbon footprint. Basically they are will be buying local and reducing the amount of waste. This Palo Alto, CA company has over 400 cafes in 28 states, usually large companies and Universities.

Here are their kitchen principles:

The following food standards have been created for the well being of our guests:

• Menus are written based on seasonality and availability of regional fresh product. Whenever possible, these are produced locally using sustainable and organic practices
• Turkey breast and chicken are produced without the routine use of antibiotics as a feed additive
• Hamburgers are made with fresh ground chuck from beef raised on vegetarian feed without antibiotics or hormones
• Other meats are raised without antibiotics as a first preference
• Milk is free of antibiotics and artificial Bovine Growth Hormone as available
• Shell eggs are produced cage-free and Certified Humane
• Vegetarian options are plentiful at every meal
• Healthy menu items are a mainstream offering throughout our cafés
• Salsas, pizza, marinara and other sauces are made from scratch
• Stocks are made from scratch, the day before use to ensure the removal of fats
• Turkey and beef are roasted in-house daily for deli meat
• Tuna is dolphin-safe, packed in water
• Seafood should be purchased fresh when available locally. Salmon is wild caught. We support the Seafood Watch guidelines as recommended by the Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Olive and canola oils are used for everyday salad dressings, specialty oils for other purposes (i.e. walnut oil or chili oil)
• Trans fats are not used in our kitchens
• All salad dressings are made from scratch. Nonfat and low-calorie dressings may be purchased as necessary
• Vegetables are prepared in batches at the last possible minute and served in the smallest possible batches
• MSG and peanut oil are never used in the preparation of our food
• Mashed potatoes are made from fresh potatoes
• Fresh squeezed lemon juice is used for cooking and sauces
• Cookies, muffins and breads (where possible) are baked fresh daily

Tired of feeling like you can't do anything? Here's a great way to get started in your own kitchen, What you can do. I also love their Top Five Low Carbon Diet Tips and a cool little search page for local, sustainable food in your area. Eat Well Guide. And finally, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a pocket seafood guide so you know what fish is ocean-friendly and safe to eat. Don't forget to ask restaurants where their seafood was caught or raised and don't buy seafood that has to be flown in buy frozen when caught. Shipping fish uses less energy than flying it into your market, fresh-caught. If you can't see the ocean don't buy fresh-caught.

Tuesdays with Moon

To prove last Tuesday wasn't a fluke I didn't use my car again today. Posting about this means I'd have to be accountable to someone and I wasn't sure if I could live up to a challenge but here it is, another Tuesday and I've succeeded getting things done with public transportation and my own two feet. I logged about five miles and two buses and let me whine a bit, it was 92 sunny degrees out today.

Every time you start to feel smug about an accomplishment reality smacks you in your face. Getting on my final bus I stepped aside so a woman with five bags full of groceries could board. It then dawned on me she was using the bus because she had to not because she thought it stylishly green to do so. I hung my head in shame. Not that it's wrong to give up your car for a day from time to time, nope that's what we all should do. Riding the bus is a great reminder we need to control this runaway price increase in oil if for no other reason than that women with the five bags of groceries.

Yes, ranting about gas, again

It's very difficult to have a discussion with some who agrees with you. The conversation usually goes something like:

Statement of a fact: blah, blah, blah.
Answer: Yeah, yes, your damn straight it is.

My beloved and I, in general, have much the same politics so most of the time I just take note of what he says because he can be quite humorous at times and profound at others. Take this morning when a news report mentioned a loophole in a law that restricts drilling off our coast. An example, China could drill off our coast where we couldn't and they cursed the "tree huggers" for getting laws such as this enacted. It does sound stupid and probably right because some of our legislators have lettered in stupid. I'll check this one further but people, you are missing the point. Drilling for more oil isn't going to change anything because that oil will run dry, in time and we'll be in the same sinking boat. We can not continue to pass on this problem to the next generation.

We had the chance in the 70s with that gas crisis and what did we learn? If you look at the number of gas sucking as apposed to gas sipping vehicles on the road you could assume we learned nuttin'. Does anyone need to drive their kids to school, outside of Iraq, in a Humvee? I think not but there they are at the pumps sucking down gas.

In the 70s did we invest in a better public transportation system? Nope, Amtrak and Greyhound almost went under for the lack of riders. How about the Metro? It's only recently it's ridership is up. Maybe the threat of $4 a gallon is hitting home. I know it makes me question that trip to the market to get one item.

Find at least one day you can, take alternate form of transportation, car pool, ride your bike, or walk but we have to reduce our dependency on gas. Also think of investing in some green technology companies.

Hey, watch this

Here is my new floor in my office. It's cork, a renewable resource. The tree is stripped of it's bark then in 9-14 years it grows back. During that time it does what trees do best, suck up all our crappy air and give us oxygen. So for the Green in me, I decided on cork.

Little did I know what a chore this would turn into.

First Lumber Liquidators might be inexpensive but the customer service stinks! My husband and brother-in-law, not new to any type of home improvement, had a devil of a time getting the floating floor to go together. It was supposed to "click" together with a gently tap of a mallet. The worked very hard and got it down in two days. When almost finished one of the panels did actually "click" into place like the instructions said, one!

So after the installation comes the sealing, polyurathane. Ah, a nice satin finish and now we need to wait three days for it to dry completely. Unfortunately I could walk on it and I say unfortunately because that's how I fractured my wrist. I'd love to say it was because it was too slick but I'd be lying.

When you start a sentence with, "Hey watch this" things only go downhill from there. In my socks, I slid across the floor, then down on my wrist. Jeeze, no wonder it's broken. I'm quite lucky it is only a small fracture and no cast but a removable brace for four weeks. After that the Dr said he'd re-xray then go from there.

This has put my continuing remodel plans back a few weeks. We should have everything out of the living room this weekend, maybe. The walls in the living room look great but I won't be able to hang and pictures for a while. Sigh.

A little green update

My daughter is getting into the swing of solar cooking. First she cooked a pot of rice, this time she's done a near-complete dinner. I could not be prouder.

Me? I'm still try to cut down on oil consumption by taking some public trans and walking to the market when I've forgotten one or two items. Now that the summer has turned up the heat that's not as easy, so I keep my errands to the early morning. Lucky, most of our stores open early here.

Speaking of shopping at the market. Do you hate those plastic bags as much as I do? Most markets these days sell the reusable shopping bags. Trader Joe's has the coolest. I keep an assortment in my trunk to accommodate any size purchase.

Last week I did get a chance to try the Metro Train into LA. I'm always looking for the perfect balance to get me to the Getty Center. I carpool most weeks and when I don't try an alternative. The train to Van Nuys stops just about ten minutes from my house and after a 30 minute ride I pick up one bus that goes directly to the Getty. This save me a bit of time because I don't have to transfer; no waiting for that additional bus.

Is this cheaper for me or save me time? Nope. I do it because I have to prove to myself it can be done. We should all find a way to conserve, all of us.

Bring a book

Traveling by bus I have found some interesting people. Take the last trip. I'm sitting on the bench, minding my own business, reading my book. When you travel this way it's always good to have something to do while you wait. A nicely dressed, somewhere near 40 year-old, walks up and sits beside me and proceeds to tell me her life story. Do I have one of those sympathetic faces?

Her story was too long for this post but the synopsis was she didn't get the job she applied for because they don't hire felons. This got my attention; I closed my book. She went into some long involved situation where she hooked up with a "weirdo", her words, and offered, with the help of a friend, to move is stuff into a storage unit. Flash forward to a storage yard where the moving friend gets drunk, she gets irritated and slams the car into reverse to race out of there, not seeing her helping friend who's bent down behind the car. Yep, backed over her and killed her instantly, she said.

Me: Killing someone with a car isn't felony manslaughter, is it?
Her: It is if you leave the scene of the accident.

She said she didn't drive away but ran down the street to a hospital to get help. So they have a trial and "... now I can't get a stinkin' job!"

Sad situation, yes, but never in this conversation did she mention the friend she'd killed, never. My god, no remorse at all? Nope, just poor me, now my life is ruined. Oh look, here's the bus.

You thought LA's traffic is hazardous

Rush hour in New Delhi is more dangerous these days with an old elephant holding up traffic if he suspects food in any of the cars. He forces the drivers to stop by standing in front of the car and then stays there until the driver gets out and he can extract his toll.

What's next? Raising the bus fare?

How to get noticed in California

My birthday is coming up and I know what I want, an air-horn. I've been doing a lot of walking. Trying to get healthy and keeping green, I walk about six miles a week. I'm hoping to increase it to ten but not unless I get an air-horn.

Why would I need one? To honk at all you bastards trying to run me over in the crosswalk. In California the crosswalk is sacred, a safety zone for the foot traveler. That is the intent but there seems to be a lack of communication to drivers, especially phone-to-ear drivers. For the love of god, I'm a fat lady in the crosswalk, you couldn't see me? I've taken to wearing brightly colored clothes but I refuse to carry a flag, what I need is something to blast them back to reality. The reality being, "You're driving a f#$%ing car, get off the phone!

Please stand behind the yellow line

Here I go, being Green, again. I'd like to challenge all my friends to one day a week to leave your damn foreign oil sucking machine in the garage/carport/impound lot so that we can really send a message to the damn sucking oil companies. This is getting more ridiculous.

Someone was excited about not buying gas on Thursday. That'll show 'em. Yeah, right if, you buy 10 gallons a week and don't buy it on one certain how is that showing them? Well we could buy from the independents. Just where do you think THEY get the gas. Just because his name is Akmid doesn't mean he has a direct line to the Saudi well. Brains people, we all have them we could exercise them and our own bodies by cutting down on the consumption.

I'm not asking anything drastic, just start small. Meeting friends? Car pool. Two or more errands, park and walk. What will it cost you? Time? Jeese, you've got a dozen modern time saving appliances, time shouldn't be an issue.

I've been investigating riding public transportation to the Getty Center, I'm volunteering twice this week so that means two trips to LA on the bus. I will be posting my results. Plus, I might get a funny story out of the whole adventure.

It only takes one bad Geek

Back in March I had a "melt-down" in our local Best Buy. Why? Well, it might have been a combination of my neck problem, my age, and the fact that they were acting so stupid I had to get angry. The next day I went to the doctor about my neck, I can't do anything about my age and I really never wrote/called Best Buy about the idiots they have in, what they laughingly call, customer service, but I did swear off the store.

Yesterday I changed my printer cartridges and remembered seeing a recycle bin for empties; dead batteries, too, at Best Buy. Not wanting to goop up the land fill I went there and yup, they took the cartridges. Being a bit happier than I was the last time I entered their store I thought I'd check there supply of photo printer paper. To my utter amazement one staff member took me to the department and asked that staff member to help me, which he did. I mean he really helped me. He told me about the different papers and I wasn't going to buy but wanted to know if he was knowledgable, he was. Amazed I walked to another department, the same damn treatment.

What could have created this turn around I wondered? A new interest in customer service? Or maybe trying to boost their sagging image. One of their "geeks" got caught being bad and I'm sure there was a prime directive from the corp. office about being professional.