Solar Power for the Condo

My dream is to one day live off-grid, but I hadn't considered trying to find a way to begin this journey in my urban condo.

At the HOA meeting last week, one of my neighbors suggested we look into getting solar panels for our flat roof and any programs (rebates, etc) that our local utility and government may offer to implement this technology.

Here I was researching and dreaming about living off grid, but for some future endeavor and not for here.  Honestly, I didn't think anyone in our building would go for it and I guess I look at this living space as only an interim until I get what I want in life--now that in itself is a lesson on so many different levels, but not for this post.

I had also considered, but not enough to bring it up at an HOA meeting, a building vegetable garden for the little space we have in our courtyard.  There have been discussions about what to do with the unpleasing-to-the-eye space, but no action.  Quite honestly I was concerned about the balance between work on the garden and reaping--you know would people take more than their share--and since I don't want to fight or have resentment with my neighbors I didn't think too long about it.  

We are a small association--only 9 units--and until the past year rarely saw each other; and when we did happen to pass each other while getting our mail or going to our cars, we didn't converse much.   Perhaps when one of our neighbors (young man really) died in his unit last year and wasn't discovered for over a week, it was a little reality check of how much we hermit in our own small community.

Someone else volunteered to do some research on the solar panels and I will do some too and post what I learn here.  I think I will also look into the vegetable garden idea too--and post it too.  I bet we could get something going, like a square foot garden, that would produce enough for all of us.

Dear Santa, Please Bring A Flatscreen

Dear Santa,

I would like a flat screen TV for Christmas.

That doesn't sound very green does it--but wait....it is...or at least I can justify it.

Beyond the fact that my TV is 12 years old and makes a low humming sound (most people wouldn't notice), it is outdated.  It just doesn't fit with the technology of today.

I have been resistant to HDTV for many reasons, and one of them is that the quality of the equipment doesn't seem to match the high price tag. If I spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of equipment I expect it to last for at least a decade, if not two--mechanically at least.  Plus, I didn't want it to be one of those Windows Vista scenarios.  I don't want to buy a TV to have it be obsolete in two years.

With my growing disgust with paid television like cable and satellite (remember when the reason you paid for the subscription service was to get away from advertising?  Now it is full of infomercials--and I'm paying for those infomercials), and the fact that I prefer movies anyway, I have been researching my options.

I'd like to get rid of my DirectTV (reduction of dependance on outside entities and financial outflow) and just go with local stations and streaming movie service that I don't have to buy an extra piece of equipment to receive.

From my research it doesn't appear that my analog TV is able to make the conversion--at least to the streaming movie service.  I already have Netflix, but want to get rid of them because of their minimal streaming choices.  Amazon and CinemaNow seem to be offering the best with Amazon in the lead--but I'd have to buy new equipment.

I also want to start replacing my Disney VHS movies with DVD's (for the grandchildren I will have some day) and blue ray looks like it is the way to go.

It is my dream to one day have an off grid home, but I don't plan on giving up fully on what technology has to offer in the way of entertainment and functionality.

So, Santa, I'd like a new flatscreen TV please, so I can begin my retreat from big corporations who take it from both ends--the advertiser and the consumer.

Car Trash Recycling Confession

As I was writing my post yesterday, I realized that I don't recycle my trash from the car.

We travel a lot in our car and the trash can pile up quickly.  I'd love to tell you that my car is immaculant, but it is no where near that.  You ever seen the gags on TV where trash falls out of the car when the door is opened?  Well, that used to be me.  It's not that bad anymore, but still bad enough.  Whenever people comment on it, I just tell them, well you can tell that I don't litter.

When I do clean out the car, all the trash goes into one bag, and that goes directly into the trash dumpster.

Due to my Diet Coke addiction, there are many cans that make it into the dumpster from the car--but I can make myself feel better about that because there are no less than 3 people who regularly comb the dumpsters for recycling in my urban neighborhood.

One guy has quite the system.  Three large trash bins.  One for cans, one for bottles (which he smashes into the bin to conserve space--truly is quite rude at 6:30 am), and one for plastic, all on a cart that he pushes through the bumpy alley.  Actually he may have 4 bins on it--one for miscellaneous items--I watch him from time to time when he wakes me up.

I've thought a couple times about putting a trash bin in the garage, but don't want to invite bugs and varmits.  But, if I put one down there that is just for recycling, that might work. It's not like we keep food trash in the car--mostly paper and cans.

I'll report to you when I have done this, and also when I have remedied the bathroom trash issues.

It Started With a Little Change

When I first started recycling it was for the bit of extra change it provided in a pinch. It really was a pain though--trying to find a spot to keep the bags of cans until I was ready to cash them in.

When I bought a condo, it had recycling bins that were picked up by a waste management company. It was so much easier to just dump them in the bin.  Since it was so much easier, we started to recycle other things too like bottles and some paper (mostly junk mail).   But every once in a while, the recycle bin was too full so the junk mail went into the trash.

Then I saw a woman on TV (Rachel Ray show maybe) a couple years ago who was just a maniac at recycling.  It impressed me.

The idea was to have more recycling bins than trash bins.

So after I repainted my kitchen/dining room area, I needed a solution to get the trash/recycling bins out of the dining room.

My daughter convinced me that we could live with smaller bins and put them under the sink -- I of course fought the idea of smaller bins, and she promised to take them out regularly.

So, keeping in mind what I had seen on the show, I bought three small trash cans to go under my sink--two for recycling and one for trash.  The two for recycling fill up a couple times a week and the trash fills up maybe once a week....BUT!  when I take the bag from the trash bin it only fills about one quarter of the kitchen sized bag--it is the smallest bin of the three.

Now, when the recycling is too full for the junk mail, I know it is time to take the recycling down to the purple bins. I feel a twinge of guilt whenever I put a piece of recycling into the trash bin because I know it is not necessary.

I still need to take the trash down as often as I did before, but that is only to get rid of the smell.  Some weeks, the trash bin isn't full at all, but it is stinky and goes downstairs.

If I had a composter half of that trash would be put to good use. One day I will have a place to compost and a garden to use it.

Now that I am finishing this post, I remember that on the show they put recycling bins everywhere there was a trash can--even in the bathrooms--hardly any real trash in those.  My bathrooms are pretty small...so adding a second bin is not really practical.  I will have to think about this further and come up with a solution. I do have this cute tall tin that is not being used--maybe I could use that for the trash.  I'll have to do that.  Then there is the car.  I'll have to write another post with recycling tips.

Later!

The Woman Who Planted an Organic Seed

A seed was planted the day I sold a car to a woman who walked into my dealership with her son.

I was fresh out of college (focus on PR), my mother had recently died, I was a single mother and I was going to make a killing selling cars.  I didn't make a killing, but I met a woman who planted a seed about eating organically.  I talked to a lot of people when I sold cars and there are only a handful that I remember.

This woman had survived cancer.  Not really sure which type--maybe breast cancer.  She told me her story as we walked around the lot.  I wasn't even paying attention to showing her cars, I just listened to her amazing story.  What I took from it was how she stayed cancer free. She ate natural foods--cooked everything from scratch, and this was in 1996 when there wasn't stores like Whole Foods.

I believe she still bought pasta from the store (I don't believe she ground her own flour either), but when she cooked, she cooked with all natural ingredients and her vegetables were fresh and not from a can.  She talked about all the chemicals in foods like Hamburger Helper.  I used to eat Hamburger Helper regularly (2 to 3 times a week) back then and did for many years.  These days, it doesn't sit on the shelf in my cupboards.  We might buy it once a year now for nostalgia, but I make my stroganoff from scratch--almost.

This is where the reluctant comes in--I do use Campbell's cream of mushroom soup in my recipe; and, until recently used garlic powder and onion powder.  Now, I use fresh onions and garlic most of the time (not as fast).  A slow shift over time.  Perhaps one day, I will use something other than canned soup.

I will have to see if the organic cream of mushroom soup is comparable in price.  I'd love to buy humane grass fed beef, but that is 3 times the cost of standard store bought beef and I just can't justify it on my current budget.  There is the pocket book reluctance--another post.  And then there is the matter of taste--again, another post.  

She, is one of the many messengers that have planted seeds in my life.  Although I didn't act immediately, her message stuck with me and it grew each time I encountered another message about the same subject.