Carrot
.
L had final exams last week, which meant half days. (yay!)
To amuse myself while he was in school, I went shopping. I bought sock yarn and needles and henna. The hubby-man helped me henna my hair last night. I'm not terribly pleased with the results. Normally I buy pure henna and it covers my grey and matches my hair almost perfectly. The stuff I bought last week had chamomile and beet root added to the henna. I thought it would be fine. No big deal, right? Wrong! I have bright rusty/carrot orange hair!
Fortunately, it will start fading with my first wash. No dye stays very long in red hair. On the flip side, I bought two packs; and I have enough left over to draw many pretty henna tattoos on my feet. :)
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Survivor
.
So there we are, watching the final 2 Survivors walking along the beach, drinking mimosas out of champaign glasses - and Aras slips. The glass shatters. Cuts his hand and his back. He pulled the glass out of his back; blood everywhere. The med team comes...
And they break out the anesthetic. *shudder* I remember those lidocaine shots in my foot. I remember screaming. I remember my vision blacking out. And I remember asking the doctor if feet were the worst. "Hands and feet", he said. "Actually, hands are a bit worse."
And poor Aras. They had to anesthetize his hand. *shudder*shudder*shudder*
It freaked me out. Oh, the trauma. What a birthday gift. *shudder*
Oh, yeah. I'm 37 today!
.
So there we are, watching the final 2 Survivors walking along the beach, drinking mimosas out of champaign glasses - and Aras slips. The glass shatters. Cuts his hand and his back. He pulled the glass out of his back; blood everywhere. The med team comes...
And they break out the anesthetic. *shudder* I remember those lidocaine shots in my foot. I remember screaming. I remember my vision blacking out. And I remember asking the doctor if feet were the worst. "Hands and feet", he said. "Actually, hands are a bit worse."
And poor Aras. They had to anesthetize his hand. *shudder*shudder*shudder*
It freaked me out. Oh, the trauma. What a birthday gift. *shudder*
Oh, yeah. I'm 37 today!
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Thinking Aloud About Oil
.
Oil is plant matter subjected to heat, pressure and time, right? So if you pulled all the weeds in your yard and put them in a pressure cooker, you should get oil. Eventually.
Of course, you would use more oil heating the pressure cooker than you would get from your weeds. But what if you used a solar powered pressure cooker? Let's ;leave that there for a bit and go on to Things I Have Directly Observed.
I once had a back yard measuring 50'X 140'. I paid a man $10 per cut to mow the lawn, averaging 10 cuts per growing season. The lawn clippings were dumped in a corner of the yard. The next spring I had a big pile of dirt with a 1/2 inch layer of lawn clippings on top. There was enough dirt to plant a 20'X 30' garden.
Several years later, my mom bought five 20lb bags of hardwood mulch (not cedar). The bags were black. She used 3 of them and left the other two sitting in the garden all summer. The next spring, we opened the bags. What had been mulch 8 months ago was now soil and a few wood bits. We tilled it into her garden and didn't need to fertilize the area for at least 3 years. Her plants flourished.
When I bought my current house, I built a bin out of chicken wire and dumped in all my grass clippings, leaves and tree branches. I never stirred it. Nor did I add any chemicals to help it break down. I just dumped stuff on the top and removed the dirt that fell out of the bottom. The chicken wire lasted 2 years before it started falling apart. I had enough dirt to level my back yard. I also had a lot of worms and a lot of happy birds.
Yet, none of these methods produced noticeable oil. But you can get oil from plants, right? Isn't that what vegetable oil is? So where does the oil go?
Heck if I know.
What I do know is that petroleum and methane go hand in hand. And from what I've read in scientific journals that I barely understand, some bacteria "eat" methane and "poop" heavy hydrocarbons. So I speculate that bacteria are required for petroleum production. Yay, bacteria!
Now here's where it gets weird: Petroleum can be found in meteorites. Not in the kind of quantities we have on Earth; but it exists nonetheless. Also, in order to run your car or make a Ziploc bag; petroleum must be broken down to lighter hydrocarbons. (fuel oil, naptha, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc.)
So we don't need more petroleum. We need more fuel oil, naptha, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc.
Since petroleum can be made in a lab -and was made in a lab extensively in Germany during WW2- why can't we make fuel oil, naptha, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc in a lab?
Just pondering aloud here.
.
Oil is plant matter subjected to heat, pressure and time, right? So if you pulled all the weeds in your yard and put them in a pressure cooker, you should get oil. Eventually.
Of course, you would use more oil heating the pressure cooker than you would get from your weeds. But what if you used a solar powered pressure cooker? Let's ;leave that there for a bit and go on to Things I Have Directly Observed.
I once had a back yard measuring 50'X 140'. I paid a man $10 per cut to mow the lawn, averaging 10 cuts per growing season. The lawn clippings were dumped in a corner of the yard. The next spring I had a big pile of dirt with a 1/2 inch layer of lawn clippings on top. There was enough dirt to plant a 20'X 30' garden.
Several years later, my mom bought five 20lb bags of hardwood mulch (not cedar). The bags were black. She used 3 of them and left the other two sitting in the garden all summer. The next spring, we opened the bags. What had been mulch 8 months ago was now soil and a few wood bits. We tilled it into her garden and didn't need to fertilize the area for at least 3 years. Her plants flourished.
When I bought my current house, I built a bin out of chicken wire and dumped in all my grass clippings, leaves and tree branches. I never stirred it. Nor did I add any chemicals to help it break down. I just dumped stuff on the top and removed the dirt that fell out of the bottom. The chicken wire lasted 2 years before it started falling apart. I had enough dirt to level my back yard. I also had a lot of worms and a lot of happy birds.
Yet, none of these methods produced noticeable oil. But you can get oil from plants, right? Isn't that what vegetable oil is? So where does the oil go?
Heck if I know.
What I do know is that petroleum and methane go hand in hand. And from what I've read in scientific journals that I barely understand, some bacteria "eat" methane and "poop" heavy hydrocarbons. So I speculate that bacteria are required for petroleum production. Yay, bacteria!
Now here's where it gets weird: Petroleum can be found in meteorites. Not in the kind of quantities we have on Earth; but it exists nonetheless. Also, in order to run your car or make a Ziploc bag; petroleum must be broken down to lighter hydrocarbons. (fuel oil, naptha, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc.)
So we don't need more petroleum. We need more fuel oil, naptha, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc.
Since petroleum can be made in a lab -and was made in a lab extensively in Germany during WW2- why can't we make fuel oil, naptha, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc in a lab?
Just pondering aloud here.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Deux Ex In-Laws
.
We have no hot water. Because a few months ago, we found a trickle of moisture in the utility closet. The hubby-man said something about overflow valves and I'm sure the word "repair" came into play somewhere. I didn't pay much attention because the hubby-man can fix anything. So whatever it was, he would fix it.
Late last week, there was a puddle in the basement. I laid down some towels to soak it up; and pretty soon there was a pile of sopping wet towels and an even larger puddle.
I walked through the water and took a peek in the utility closet. Hm. The water heater had a ring of corrosion all around the bottom. That's not good.
The hubby-man was working from home that day, so we sat side by side on our computers and compared water heater prices at various hardware stores. Although our budget called for the cheapest possible water heater, my eyes kept returning to the lovely tankless water heater page. At twice the cost (or more) a tankless heater was out of the question...
But it has a longer warranty!
And all the parts are replaceable!
And it's smaller!
And sooo efficient!
And we'd save so much on our utility bills!
Plus the whole environmental issue!
We ooh'ed and aah'ed over the tankless heaters, and found an affordable old fashioned water heater that would replace our failing heater.
The hubby-man reached for the phone, and I begged him; "Don't call your mom. Please!" While my mind scrambled around for some way to pay for a new water heater.
That night, our "hot" water was only warm. The next day it was barely over room temperature and the puddle in the basement had become a flood. The water heater was hemorrhaging. We shut off the water heater, mopped up the mess and arranged showers with friends. (Thank you, Persephone!)
Then the hubby-man called his mom.
I hate that. She's already helping us pay tuition. And she bought is seats from the old Busch Stadium. We shouldn't ask for more -no matter how badly we need it. I was ashamed.
However. My goddess like mother in law agreed to buy us a water heater in lieu of birthday, Christmas, and anniversary presents. Not only that, but she was totally in favor of a tankless water heater! So, after talking it over with her hubby-man (my god-like father in law), she told us to buy "what we need" and send her the bill.
I am speechless with gratitude.
Not only are my in-laws helping us far more than we deserve; they're helping us keep to our goal if having a more environmentally conscious home. Wow.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
.
We have no hot water. Because a few months ago, we found a trickle of moisture in the utility closet. The hubby-man said something about overflow valves and I'm sure the word "repair" came into play somewhere. I didn't pay much attention because the hubby-man can fix anything. So whatever it was, he would fix it.
Late last week, there was a puddle in the basement. I laid down some towels to soak it up; and pretty soon there was a pile of sopping wet towels and an even larger puddle.
I walked through the water and took a peek in the utility closet. Hm. The water heater had a ring of corrosion all around the bottom. That's not good.
The hubby-man was working from home that day, so we sat side by side on our computers and compared water heater prices at various hardware stores. Although our budget called for the cheapest possible water heater, my eyes kept returning to the lovely tankless water heater page. At twice the cost (or more) a tankless heater was out of the question...
But it has a longer warranty!
And all the parts are replaceable!
And it's smaller!
And sooo efficient!
And we'd save so much on our utility bills!
Plus the whole environmental issue!
We ooh'ed and aah'ed over the tankless heaters, and found an affordable old fashioned water heater that would replace our failing heater.
The hubby-man reached for the phone, and I begged him; "Don't call your mom. Please!" While my mind scrambled around for some way to pay for a new water heater.
That night, our "hot" water was only warm. The next day it was barely over room temperature and the puddle in the basement had become a flood. The water heater was hemorrhaging. We shut off the water heater, mopped up the mess and arranged showers with friends. (Thank you, Persephone!)
Then the hubby-man called his mom.
I hate that. She's already helping us pay tuition. And she bought is seats from the old Busch Stadium. We shouldn't ask for more -no matter how badly we need it. I was ashamed.
However. My goddess like mother in law agreed to buy us a water heater in lieu of birthday, Christmas, and anniversary presents. Not only that, but she was totally in favor of a tankless water heater! So, after talking it over with her hubby-man (my god-like father in law), she told us to buy "what we need" and send her the bill.
I am speechless with gratitude.
Not only are my in-laws helping us far more than we deserve; they're helping us keep to our goal if having a more environmentally conscious home. Wow.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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