Ecology

A few years ago I noticed that a tree was growing in the tiny side area between my house and my neighbor’s.  By the time I took notice of it the tree was 4 feet tall.  Apparently I had been ignoring that side of the house. I don’t know a lot about trees but it looked like it might be some kind of fruit tree.  So I waited and asked my gardener.  Sure enough, it turned out to be an apricot tree.  Since the window above my kitchen sink is right above where the tree has taken root I figured that I must have spit an apricot seed out of the louvers. 

Yeah, it was a barbarian move, what can I say?  But it was a Blenheim pit, so I decided to let the tree stay even though I was told that since it wasn’t a “grafted” tree and without a strong rootstock it probably woudn’t bear fruit.  And for 5 years it didn’t, except for a few lonely guys who would appear each year on one branch.  They were the few, the brave, and the delicious.  Meanwhile, one year the tree trunk split nearly down to the ground.  We shored it up and figured that there would be attrition, but no, the tree thrived. 

So we had a hail storm yesterday. 

We'd had kind of crazy weather all day - blue skies and puffy clouds one minute, dark gray clouds, pouring rain and sky to ground lightning the next.  The national weather service (or whoever does this) even interrupted TV programming to run some severe weather warnings throughout the afternoon.

Initially the warnings were about the lightning in the area, but then around dinner time they mentioned the hail.  Bill and I had been in the kitchen - he was making dinner and I was making the TWD Mixed Berry Crumble (see previous post) - when the latest warning came on, and we went downstairs to listen (we have one TV, and it's in the basement), and after hearing about possible hail, and just sort of shrugging it off, we went back up to the kitchen to see - yes - hail coming down.

So we called the kids, I got my camera, Bill got the DVD camera, and we hung out, mostly at the big front window, watching the spectacle.

It's good to do things as a family.

My husband Dave always seems to be ahead of the cool gadget curve, making sure we're the first kids on our block to have the latest and greatest tech toys. We've had our Wii for years, stood in line the first week for the iPhone (him not me), sold our regular laptop to upgrade to the MacBook Air (worth every penny) and are still jamming away a year later on Rock Band when most people have never even played the game. I couldn't imagine what he was going to pull out of his Christmas stocking this year. Thanks to the generosity of his boss, it was a Kindle. For those of you who shop on Amazon – which would be almost everyone with an Internet connection on the planet – the Kindle is not exactly new, but it sure is hard to get your hands on, which is a bit of a surprise considering how expensive it is.

I certainly wasn't going to pay $359 for this "toy." As an avid book reader who buys 30-40 books a year, I'd make my money back pretty quickly, considering the regular cost of new books. Of course, to actually read anything on it, you have to pay more, around $8-10 per download, which is about half the price of most hardcovers and over time seems like a good deal. Ultimately, my decision to not jump on this bandwagon was all about the experience. Sure, the "books" are cheaper and kept all in one place (you can switch from book to book at the click of a button and the device even keeps your place for you, which is nice), but what about the physicality of watching the story unfold as you turn the page? Of the feel of the paper beneath your fingertips? Of getting the latest book by your favorite author right off the press?

Here are four things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint in 2008.
 
1)     Buy a Terra Pass at: http://www.terrapass.com

You can get one to offset your automobile, air travel, home energy use…or all three!
 
2)     Cut down on your electric bill by turning off the lights or appliances that are not in use, or if you are in the market for a new appliance, buy one with a high energy star rating.

3)     Get out of your car! Ride a bike, if weather & fitness permit. Take public transportation, if it’s available near you.

4)     Buy compact fluorescent bulbs for as many lights in your house as you can. You’ll save power, AND some money!

Happy New Year!
Ed