Living room and dining room painted

We spent 5 days repainting the living room and dining room. Here are a few views of the results. The colors came from the Turandot poster in the first picture. After that is the dining area, living room, and looking in from the front door.

Baby Robins

I got a few shots while mom and dad were out finding worms after the rain today. There are a total of 4. It looks like they may start flight school this weekend while we are out of town unfortunately.

Garden update.

First produce of the season. H would be proud.


Overview.


Addition of strawberries on the back/left. Front left = radishes, spinach next (2 squares), lettuce (2 squares), carrots (front row), beets (2nd row). The 4 open squares in the back are going to be hollyhocks because that spot is almost impossible to get to for harvesting. The strawberries are perennials so those and the hollyhocks should come back every year if I cover the bed to keep it warm over the winter.


14 Assorted tomatoes (hybrids, sweet 100s, some heirloom varieties, romas, and sandwich sized), butternut squash and acorn squash in column 3 - back and 2nd rows, jalapeños, habanero, and another pepper in upper right corner.


Finally, the butterfly/hummingbird garden with the blown glass feeder (a going away gift from my former co-workers).

I have radishes!


And a nesting robin!

Buzzards

Actually turkey vultures. Here are some pictures from a rainy morning (May 15) about 10:00 AM of the roost of turkey vultures along West Road in Los Alamos. This road traverses Los Alamos Canyon just west of the bridge and passes the skating rink in the bottom of the canyon. Just uphill of the skating rink on the south side is the vulture's roost. Usually they have all left by 7:30 AM or so and return at dusk. This morning was cold with rain mixed at times with snow, so everybody was staying home. These birds have a 6-foot wingspan. It is fun to watch them ride the thermals up in the morning, hardly flapping at all, and then peel off one at a time at about 50 mph to sniff out lunch. They are one of the few birds with a sharp sense of smell. We were fairly far away for these pictures and even with 3X zoom these views are just a small piece of the full-size pictures.

Trail work from May 1 to May 3

Here are some before and after pictures from work on a 90-foot-long section of the Pueblo Canyon trail. The first two show what was done in one day. The next one is after two more days. I took out the the small tree that the Pulaski is leaning on in the first view. The large rock in the distance in the final view had been above the trail and in the way so I moved it to a hole I dug to catch it below the trail.

Downed Tree on Walnut Canyon Trail

While walking along the Pueblo trail, you can see part of the trail I built on the other side of the canyon, in 2006 and 2007. There is a tree lying across the Walnut Canyon Trail. The downed tree is on the left third of the picture.

Also in this picture there is a log near the upper right parallel to the trail where Mary and I sometimes have a picnic lunch. My friend Harunori cut off the large tree near the middle of the picture. We rolled the end over to help support the downhill side of the trail.




After cutting a few remaining strands of root, I rolled the downed tree off the trail and just downhill of the spot, but it seems to be hidden by another cluster of trees. The soil is so bone dry and powdery that the wind pulled this live 8-inch-diameter, 20-foot-tall pine up by its roots.

Yard work.

I've been working on a path from the house to the garage for a couple years now. This spring I decided to work it into my garden (visually) so here is my progress.

This first picture is last summer. The dogs hadn't taken to digging right along the concrete yet.


Here is my progress this spring. The dogs decided eating dirt was a fun past-time so they decided to start digging to China along the concrete slab. Quite an unsightly pain.



In order to nip the digging in the bud, we poured a bag of concrete mix in with the dirt, stirred it up, wet it, stomped on it, and finished off the area with mulch. Hopefully jerks #1 and #2 will leave the area alone now! I need one more bag of mulch to finish off the far end.

Trail work

Here is a section of the Pueblo Canyon trail I am working on. On the left is a "before" shot showing how steep and narrow the existing trail is. On the right is the "after" shot taken from about the same place.

Happy Earth Day

Earth Day Newsletter April 2008
The future is now. Let’s live it up.

This has been a progressive year for the Earth. Green awareness is rising and I had a huge pool to choose from for this year’s newsletter. Here are a few selections for your enjoyment.


new news

Welcome, National Geographic Green Guide!

Written for general consumers, Green Guide is full of simple, useful ideas, broken down into achievable steps that make "going green" a gradual and affordable process rather than an all-or-nothing plunge. It’s the resource for consuming wisely.

Find practical advice, like where to recycle broken compact fluorescent light bulbs (http://www.earth911.org/) and stories that vibe with your sustainable lifestyle, even if you just dabble in green.

Visit: http://www.thegreenguide.com/


Go in Peace, Sunflower Market…

What a fantastic place to shop this was! Great staff, great meal ideas and all organic. Smaller than Whole Foods, every item went through a taste test before hitting the shelves. We loved that fact that we could find all our favorites and try new things without breaking the bank.

Well, all things must come to an end, and we hope that now there is more room for similarly-minded groceries. But for now, we will bounce around the organic kiosks at the supermarket and scrape up pennies to frequent the old stand-bys.


Revolution in Residential Design?

John Nastasi is revisiting a great concept: working with nature to build our homes. His use of parametric modeling and site analysis ensure that building is sensitive to the environment and energy efficient for home owners.

Not only does analysis ensure that the build “treads lightly on the Earth,” use of prefabrication reduces labor costs and errors. Make your next home project site-specific. Nastasi is training the next generation of architects at the Product-Architecture Lab program at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Read more at dwell.com or read my report on the subject at www.lauriebillen.com/NastasiDesign




travels…san francisco

smart car!

smart® has arrived in San Francisco! Open your mind with the smart fortwo®. Fuel economy is a hot topic, and better engineering allows us to make safe cars smaller than ever. smart is a car that offers maximum comfort, agility, safety, ecology and driving fun.

Here is the stated smart Environmental Policy: "With our products, we are setting a milestone for environmentally-compatible individual mobility. Every day, we live an efficient and dynamic environmental management system that is aligned towards on-going improvement."

smart is dedicated to protecting the environment with future focused recycling and a strong environmental policy. The smart fortwo is also classified as an Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) on account of its extremely low exhaust emissions. The catalytic converter is positioned close to the engine for a quick response. An electric pump blows fresh air into the exhaust port when the engine is cold to almost completely oxidize the carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) and render them less harmful.

Thanks, smart, for leading us into an adorable future!



Michelle’s Naturally

What’s absolutely the best after wandering the hills of San Francisco in the rain? Delicious vegan cookies! I found some spectacular ones made by Michelle’s Naturally. Michelle uses only the finest, freshest ingredients and adds no preservatives in her baking. She works with certified organic growers whenever possible, and takes great care in selecting ingredients for her vegan cookies.

Buy: http://www.michellesnaturally.com/




here in chicago

Rancho Verde

Across the street from the fantastic Center for Green Technology is Christy Weber’s green headquarters, the capstone of a 12.5 acre eco-industrial park named Rancho Verde. The building has received LEED Platinum rating from the US Green Building Council (USGBC).

Among the impressive list of sustainable technologies used in the build are bioswales, green roofs, automated lighting, rainwater cisterns, geothermal heating and cooling, energy recovery systems, solar thermal wall panels, and a wind turbine.

I could probably go on for some time about how impressed I was with the tour, but you should check it out for yourselves! It’s great to see local businesses stepping up to the plate.

For further information please visit: chicagogreenworks.com and http://www.christywebber.com/



progressive products

Chico bags

Ugh! Do we all have the drawer, cabinet or closet full of single-use plastic bags? Does it drive you mad when you stop to pick up something and don’t have your reusable grocery bag with you? While unfortunately single-use bags are still the cheapest option for most retailers, shops are wising up to the use of eco-friendly bags. These little numbers are great because they can be condensed when not in use and are light enough to carry on your keychain.

Buy: http://store.chicobag.com/



Label Once

If you love to re-use but like to stay organized, Label Once labels can keep you from losing your marbles. Write on them with your favorite color marker, and erase and rewrite when you replace the contents. The labels stay on, even in the dishwasher, to keep you and your items sorted.

Buy: http://www.labelonce.com/



Hint Mints

Have you ever tried to find mints or gum without complex chemical additives or animal by-products? Well, it’s damn near impossible. That’s why I was so excited find Hints Mints at my favorite Michigan restaurant and shop, Food Dance. They have 3 ingredients that I can live with and taste great! What more could I ask for in a mint? Well, they look cool too, so there you go!

Buy: http://www.hintmint.com/




quotable…

“Before eating, always take a little time to thank the food.” ~First Nations Proverb


Have a fabulous Earth Day! Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

In honor of the Lunar New Year, I'd like to share this song about the universe. {http://dingo.care2.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf}

Now starts the year of the Rat, and thanks to Wikipedia, I found out a bit about it:

The Rat (Chinese:鼠) was welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. It is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities. The Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子.

Persons born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "year of the Rat," while also bearing the following elemental sign:
31 January 1900 - 18 February 1901: Metal Rat
18 February 1912 - 5 February 1913: Water Rat
5 February 1924 - 24 January 1925: Wood Rat
24 January 1936 - 10 February 1937: Fire Rat
10 February 1948 - 28 January 1949: Earth Rat
28 January 1960 - 14 February 1961: Metal Rat
16 February 1972 - 2 February 1973: Water Rat
2 February 1984 - 19 February 1985: Wood Rat
19 February 1996 - 7 February 1997: Fire Rat
7 February 2008 - 25 January 2009: Earth Rat
25 January 2020 - 11 February 2021: Metal Rat
11 February 2032 - 30 January 2033: Water Rat
30 January 2044 - 16 February 2045: Wood Rat
15 February 2056 - 3 February 2057: Fire Rat
3 February 2068 - 22 January 2069: Earth Rat
22 January 2080 - 8 February 2081: Metal Rat
7 February 2092 - 26 January 2093: Water Rat