Where are the Environmentally Friendly Carpet Cleaners?

Last weekend I woke up with a scratchy sore throat. Since it didn’t get any worse or better throughout the day, I knew that my allergies were the culprit. Doing a deep Spring cleaning of our bedroom usually clears up whatever dust or dander is bothering me. When Husband got home from his 15 mile run (yes 15 miles – the man is a machine! Oh, and he runs too.) I asked him to be careful because the carpets might still be wet because I steam cleaned them with the carpet shampooer while he was out.

“Yeah, I know”, he said and wrinkled his nose; “I can smell chemicals.”

We haven’t had that conversation since I started cleaning the kitchen floor with food for Blitzkrieg’s sake.

Ew.

I grabbed the bottle of carpet shampoo and did a little research on what might be in my carpet cleaner. It wasn’t very easy because in the law doesn’t require US companies to list the ingredients of their cleaning products on their labels.

My bottle of carpet cleaner was a store brand, so it wasn't in the Household Products Database but I found a few comparable brands. I found two iffy chemicals that may be in my carpet shampoo, Propane and Isobutane. The database reports that with liquid forms of both chemicals can cause chemical burns. Now the levels they are talking about are a pure form of the liquid chemical and not watered down or mixed in a solution as in my carpet cleaner. But since 12 pound Blitzkrieg pads around on my freshly cleaned and damp carpets (despite my best efforts to keep him from doing so) I don’t want to take any chances of those nasty chemicals getting on his paws and then inside him when he grooms himself.

That’s the last time I cheap out on buying rug shampoo.

I’m having a hard time finding an environmentally and pet friendly rug shampoo for my steam carpet cleaner. Getting rid of the carpeting in The Condo isn’t an option right now. The Condo’s built on a concrete slab so our floors on the first floor get nippy during the winter. Besides the carpets are in very good shape and with us putting our extra cash into our Emergency Fund to prepare for the time when Husband’s company moves out of state at the end of this year (grumble, grumble) buying a good rug shampoo is better alternative both financially and environmentally because we try to reduce generating a lot of unnecessary waste.

I need your help. Do you have a favorite green carpet shampoo? Will it work in a steam carpet cleaner? What is it?


This post is part of Thrifty Green Thursday.

Crochet Your Own Doctor Who Dolls

Geek alert! I have a confession, “Hi, my name’s Lisa and I am a Doctor Who fan.”

“Hi Lisa!” you say.

I’ve been watching Doctor Who since I found old episodes of the show running on PBS in the 90’s. Naturally, I’m watching the new Doctor Who series. Husband and I make it appointment television.

Seriously.

Husband even bought me my own Doctor Who sonic screwdriver toy (and pen!) for Christmas one year. It sits on my desk in front of my computer at all times just in case I need to write a note, put up a lot of cupboards, or confuse a Dalek – your choice.

So imagine my interest when I checked out snuffykin's journal and saw that she crocheted an amigurumi style Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) doll. So cute!

Snuffykin has directions on her blog for not only a chibi Tenth Doctor doll but also a chibi Ninth Doctor, and a chibi Rose Tyler (because every Doctor needs at least one companion around him at all times.)

With all of these goodies around, they need a baddie so snuffykin teaches how to make The Master. Awwww...the chibi Master looks so cute you’d almost forgive him for trying to take over the universe a gazillion times. OK, well, probably not.

Too bad I forgot how to crochet. The last time I crocheted, I was in first grade. My grandmother taught me to chain stitch to keep me out of her hair. Being of such a young age, Grandma thought that I would put down the crochet hook and play shortly after my lesson. Oh no, not me. I made a chain stitch as long as our sofa! That’s when she decided I should learn how to double crochet. I made a small scarf and promptly forgot how to crochet.

Maybe I should take it up again. Especially if I can find directions for a life size Captain Jack Harkness doll. Hubba, hubba.

All photos courtesy of snuffykin's journal.

10 Easy Ways to Use Orange Peels

I remember standing in my Grandmother’s Florida kitchen and as we chatted, she was squeezing lemons. She said that a neighbor gave her a bunch of lemons from her lemon tree and since they were getting soft she was going to squeeze the juice out of them, freeze it in one-cup containers to use whenever she needed a cup of lemon juice for cooking. That little instance was one of many, “We didn’t get where we are in this life by wasting things” lessons she taught me.

I don’t have a lemon tree in my yard, but I did have a bunch of oranges in my refrigerator. After enjoying the oranges, I looked at the peels and thought about that long ago conversation with my Grandmother. I can’t compost orange peels but I figured that they had to be useful. I put the orange peels in a container the freezer and did some research. Here are 10 ways I found that you can put those old orange peels to good reuse.


For Food

1. Make orange zest. Grate the peel with a hand grater or zester and use it in baking or cooking like my amazing pumpernickel bread.

2. Soften a brick of brown sugar. Put a piece of orange peel in a container of brown sugar to keep it from drying out.

3. Make candied orange peels . Yum!

4. Make orange liquor. Seal a container filled with orange peels and vodka and put it in a dark place. A few weeks later, strain out the orange peels, and have orange infused vodka. Double Yum!

For Cleaning

5. Destink your sink. Run orange peels through the garbage disposal to freshen up a stinky garbage disposal. Add a few ice cubes and you’ll sharpen the disposal blades too.

6. Rid a room of odor. Simmer orange peels, cloves, and cinnamon sticks in pot of water on the stove to freshen the air naturally. For safety’s sake, keep an eye on that pot and do not leave it boiling unattended on the stove.

7. Scrub a sink. Use a fresh orange peel to scrub through the gunk in your sink. The natural oils in orange peel are an excellent cleaner and shine your sink too.

For Pest Control

8. Scat cat! Scatter orange peels in your garden to deter cats from using it as a litter box. Cats hate the smell of orange oil and will do their business elsewhere.

9. As bug repellent. The oils in orange peels are also a natural insect repellent. Puree orange peels and water in a blender, and pour the solution down anthills to kill ants or pour/spray it outside the house to keep ants from coming into your home. Some folks rub a fresh orange peel on their skin and use it as a natural mosquito repellent too.

For Fire

10. Light your fire. Use dried orange peels instead of newspaper to start a fire. Orange oil is flammable and lights easily which makes it an excellent fire starter. Burning orange peels in your wood burning fireplace is supposed to remove any creosote that’s inside your chimney too. Just use caution because you are playing with fire in this tip.

How do you use orange peels?

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I’m Going to BlogHer ’09!

Going to BlogHer
Wrangling mics, greening conferences
Will I see you there?

That’s right kids, this July I’m packing up my bags and going to BlogHer ‘09. But me being me, I can’t just attend a conference. Oh no. I have to get involved in some way. So, I volunteered to use my mad podcasting skillz and will be a Mic Wrangler during the conference. What does that mean? Well, it means that if you want to ask a question or make a comment during one of conference sessions some woman who is fleet of foot is going to sidle up to you and thrust a microphone into your face so you can make your voice heard during the conference and be recorded for the conference sessions’ podcasts. And one of those fleet of foot women might just be me! So make sure you say a big “Hi Lisa!” or “Hi Condo!” to me during the conference!

Not only will I be there making sure the big name bloggerati will be heard, I’m going to help make BlogHer a little bit of a greener conference too. That’s right the BlogHer organizers in all their wisdom (?) selected me to be on the Green Committee along with such green notables as Fake Plastic Fish, Big Green Purse, The Smart Mama, Green and Clean Mom, and Green Talk. I’m flattered and find it interesting because the rest of the women on the Green committee are serious A List Green bloggers. How they let me on that committee is beyond me, since I'm all "hey that's great for you but for my peeps in the Midwest that's not always practical - how about this?"

Oh God. I just called myself practical. Next thing you know I’ll be wearing orthopedic shoes and lots of granny grey tweed. Kill. Me. Now.

Well, maybe not. I have obligations. Wait until after the conference, OK? Thanks.

Have you been to BlogHer? I know that cute shoes are a must and since I’ll literally be running around the conference, those shoes are going to be flats. What advice to you have for me? Can a nonMom survive at BlogHer? Most importantly, will I see you there?

Keep Heat and Utility Bills from Going Up the Chimney

Even after caulking the windows and adding draft strips to the outside doors of The Condo the living room was chilly during the winter. No matter how high I set the thermostat, there was a mighty draft coming from somewhere in my living room. I set out to find it. I didn’t have to go very far, because according to the US Department of Energy 15% of the heat loss in a home is through an open fireplace damper when the fireplace is not in use.

I put a hand in front of the gas fireplace grill and felt a cold breeze. Caught ya you little energy napper!

You can easily solve this problem if you have a wood burning fireplace by just closing the damper. Boom. Problem solved. Unfortunately, I have a gas burning fireplace and the dampers on a gas burning fireplace are permanently kept open.

Since we only use the fireplace during power outages and for entertaining, I wondered if there was a way that I could close the damper when it wasn’t in use to keep the heated air from escaping up the chimney, and save money on my utility bills, and reduce my natural gas usage.

Fortunately, you can stop drafts in a gas fireplace with a Chimney Balloon, or Chimney Pillow . It looks like a Mylar balloon that that you stuff up your chimney when it’s not in use. You can buy one of those or make your own version.

Do I have to even have to tell you that I made my own DIY version? Of course not.


How to Make a Gas Fireplace Chimney Balloon/Chimney Pillow

You will need:

Trash bag
Old pillow or towel
Twist tie or tape
Ribbon

Make it:

Serious NOTE: Turn off the pilot light to your gas fireplace before starting this project. This will reduce the chance of a carbon monoxide back draft and since you are stuffing a flammable object up your chimney, it will reduce the chance of anything catching fire around the fireplace’s pilot light or heating elements. If you have any question about whether this possible or doable on your gas fireplace, please check with your gas fireplace manufacturer or a professional installer.

Not So Serious Note: Singing Chim Chim Cher-ee from the movie Mary Poppins is optional but not required before, during, or after you work on this project.


1. Turn off the pilot light to your gas fireplace according to the directions on your fireplace.

2. Put the old pillow or towel in the trash bag and close the bag with the twist tie or tape.

3. Attach the length of ribbon to the tied off end of the trash bag. The ribbon is a visual reminder that you have something stuffed up the chimney and need to remove it before you light a fire in the fireplace.

4. Stuff the old pillow or towel in the trash bag up the chimney. I didn’t need to use ribbon on my chimney pillow because you can see that it’s poking out of the gas fireplace damper.

5. I noticed a draft coming from the hole around the fireplace’s gas line so I used the same technique using an old washcloth in a doggie pick up bag to block that draft too.

6. When you want to use the fireplace, pull on the ribbon to remove the pillow from the chimney, turn on the pilot light according to your fireplace directions, and light your fire!


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This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

How to Hang a Yellow Ribbon

I have a family member who is in the military and deployed to Iraq. I dug out the yellow ribbon from the box of front porch decorations and hung it on the small tree in my front yard.

Traditionally people hang yellow ribbons to symbolize that they are waiting for the safe return of a loved one or of military troops who are unable to come home due to an overseas assignment.

Since my tree is small, I chained two cable ties together and used those to attach it to my tree. Yes, the whole thing is plastic, but I wanted something that wouldn’t fade, was reusable, and could survive the crazy Ohio weather since it’s going to be up for at least a year.

Did I mention this is the third time I tied a yellow ribbon around my tree? *sigh*

How to Keep a Shower Curtain Rod from Falling

Scene: Night. The Condo residents are nestled all snug in their beds.

SFX:Silence except for Blitzkrieg, the 12 pound Pekingese who is snoring louder than a 300 pound man in desperate need of adenoid surgery.

“Klang!”

“Thumpa! Thumpa!”

“Bow-rowr- -rowr- -rowr- -rowr- -rowr- -rowr-!”

"Plink! Plink! Plink!”

Groggily I shuffle to the bathroom. The supposed stay up spring loaded shower curtain rod fell down. I raise my hands to the heavens and wonder how I pissed off the home improvement gods this time? Why must these things always happen in the middle of the night? Why can’t I get a good night’s sleep?

Stellllllllllla!

I though I took care of this problem months ago. Once I realized that the el cheapo nontension plastic shower curtain rod that came with The Condo was held up with nothing more than good intensions, I replaced it with a metal tension shower curtain rod with grippy rubber tips that are supposed to stay in place no matter what.

Apparently I was wrong about the long term stay uppidness. Time to break out the power tools.

How I Made a Sturdy Stay Up Shower Curtain Rod

I went to the home improvement store and bought two wooden closet rod brackets. I painted them the wall color with leftover paint. I screwed the brackets into the wall and placed the tension shower curtain rod into the closet rod brackets. Instant sturdy stay up shower curtain rod!

Since I screwed the closet rod brackets into drywall I didn’t need any special equipment other than a regular drill bit on Mommy’s Little Helper my electric drill. If need to install your brackets on tile, you can purchase a tile drill bit for a few dollars at any home improvement store.

After this little quick fix, I got an unintentional add-on. The wooden closet rod brackets make my curtain rod much more stable when I use it to line dry laundry on hangers during the winter. Bonus.


Blitzkrieg says hi.

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This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

Fabkins – Cute Cloth Napkins for Kids!

While I don’t have kids full time, I am lucky enough to have a whole host of nieces and nephews of various ages to run experiments on help me test children’s products. One of these products was Fabkins children’s napkins. Fabkins are cotton cloth napkins that are a little smaller than a full size dinner napkin and made to fit on kid’s laps and in kid’s lunchboxes.

Fabkins founders Joyce Raffo and Paige Rodgers wanted to pack waste free school lunches for their children. The moms had a hard time finding reusable cloth napkins that weren’t too big for a lunch box and that were, well, fun. They decided to make their own and Fabkins was born.

My testers gave Fabkins a big thumbs up. I do too. These cotton napkins wash and dry easily in the washing machine. They are small enough to pack in a lunchbox, which both the kids and I like. (Please note the rarity of small child and adult conesus.) I’d like to add that even though Fabkins are originally intended for children’s laps and lunchboxes that they fit very well in grownup lunch bags too. This means that even when we don’t have kid visitors at The Condo, I’m using the Fabkins - for our work lunches. So you might consider ordering an extra set of Fabkins for your workday lunches too. No more wasting money or trees on one use napkins – love that!

Fabkins cloth napkins come in sets of five. You can buy them directly from the Fabkins Website. As an added bonus, enter the use coupon code fabkins10 and the wonderful women of Fabkins will give Condo Blues readers 10% off your order. How fab is that?!

Got Leftovers? Make Garbage Pizza!

As part of Crunchy Chicken’s Food Waste Reduction Challenge, she asked us to either eat or catalog what leftovers we end up throwing away. Well, I hate to sound Greenzilla on this, but throwing out leftovers or spoiled food is something that rarely happens in The Condo.

And it’s all Husband’s fault!

Yay!!!

Husband’s biggest beef is wasting food and throwing out leftovers. Fortunately, Husband is the King of Cooking with Leftovers. I’m constantly amazed at how he takes a little bit of leftover this and that and makes a wonderful dinner that I never would have known that it contained or started with leftovers. Maybe this is why Husband is the main cook at our house.

I get into the using up leftovers act too. In fact, I’m the one who came up with The Garbage Pizza. No, we don’t actually top a pizza with trash but make a pizza and use it as an opportunity to use up any leftover bits in the refrigerator. That’s why I named it Garbage Pizza – because usually we end up with a pizza with a mound of toppings on it unlike than the usual one or two toppings we traditionally eat if we order a pizza in a restaurant.

Garbage Pizza is also a great quick meal when we don’t have a lot of time to cook dinner due to our flurry of activities or if it’s one of those days where we don’t have the energy to cook a regular meal (for us, this is usually falls on a Lazy Sunday.)

I have a bread maker, so I usually keep a homemade batch of pizza dough in the freezer and defrost it when the need arises. I might also add that if you have some yeast that’s close to or just past the expiration date where the cultures are alive as they used to be (yeah, did you know that yeast is alive? Kinda creepy, no?) that using it for pizza dough is a great way to use it up and not toss it in the trash. That’s how the whole Garbage Pizza thing started anyway. I had half a jar of deadish yeast that I didn’t want to toss but made for very flat bread.

If we don’t have leftover spaghetti sauce, I make a simple red sauce using a can of tomato sauce, and add garlic, basic, oregano, and salt to taste. Then comes the fun part – topping the pizza.

Usually we root around in the cupboards, refrigerator, or freezer to find pizza toppings. We usually come up with something that you’d find at a California Pizza Kitchen. Here’s a list of a few things that we’ve yanked out of the cupboards or frig and plopped on a pizza:

• Black olives


• Bean sprouts


• Cheddar cheese


• Mozzarella cheese


• Monterrey Jack cheese


• Corn (I call this version Hong Kong Pizza because I first had corn on pizza while I was in Hong Kong)


• Turkey sausage


• Basil leaves from the garden


• Leftover garlic shrimp


• Pesto made from frozen spinach & basil instead of a tomato sauce


• Chicken breast


• Mushrooms

Another thing that’s great about Garbage Pizza is that it’s an easy way to get fussy eaters to eat foods that they’ve decided that they hate because they want to drive you insane. I have 8 nieces and nephews and some of them try to pull the “I know I ate that the last time I was at your house but today I’m going to whine and swear that if I eat that green vegetable that I will die a horrible death” tantrum. By getting them involved in deciding what goes on the pizza and helping me put the toppings on it, those picky eaters are less likely to pull a hissy fit and eat the food that I put in front of them.

If you don’t have a bread maker, the time, or even the desire to make your own pizza dough, you can easily purchase any number of premade pizza doughs to keep on hand when you need it.

How do you repurpose leftovers?

My On Stage Debut with Spring Awakening

This week Husband and I fulfilled a dream – we were onstage with the Broadway touring production of Spring Awakening. Our Broadway debut? Not quite, we sat in the on stage audience seats for the show - not acting but an unforgettable experience nonetheless!

There were a few rules that came with this amazing experience. We had to put our coats, purses, and cell phones in lockers in an offstage green room before an usher escorted us on stage. They asked us not to talk to the cast during the show, we weren’t allowed to bring drinks or concessions to our seats, and they asked us not to sing along with the music. Now as a rule, I don’t sing along when I’m the theater because I know that everyone, including myself, is paying to hear the professionals sing in the show. However, that one was a little difficult to follow especially during with the whirlwind of activity happening around us during The Song That Cannot Be Named. Fortunately, we were allowed to tap our feet, which I did – repeatedly.

Sitting in the on stage audience was a bit like watching theater in the round because while we did see the actors backs when they sang to the audience in the front of the house, many times the actors played directly to the on stage audience. Otto sang and danced to my section during one of the production numbers. Georg frequently sat next to Husband when he wasn’t in a scene. Melchior bolted right past us and over the rail directly behind our seats when he broke out of the reformatory to see Wendla. Whoa.

I could see details that I could never would have seen if I were sitting in the house audience. I could clearly seeing the actor’s expressions, the detail that went into the props and costumes, and my seatmates commented on how they liked how they could see the bank rocking out when they played. I geeked out when I looked up overhead and noticed that they got the glowy, moody lightening effect during the Wendla and Melchior’s big, ahem, awakening scene using CFLs. (Consider that your enviro tip for the day.)

Now you may think that I paid a premium for this experience. Surprisingly no. Did I mention that Husband bought our tickets at a discount? Yeah, a discount. My fellow seatmates and I couldn’t believe that we played less because we certainly would have paid a premium price for this experience. (Just don't tell the producers that, OK?)

I love how Husband bargain shops!

I’m still stoked. It’s Friday. Let’s ‘ku.

sat on stage with cast
where is my Equity card?
Spring Awakening

Apparently Actor’s Equity has some silly little rule that in order to join their union, you have to actually act on stage in a qualifying play, not just sit in the on stage audience. Hurrumph! Although Husband, the former professional New York stage actor, says he thinks they’d be more than happy to let us pay the dues if we wanted.

Oh and one little thing, I should remind my more conservative readers that the themes that got the original play banned in Germany in 1891 are still in the musical. If these things bother you, then you may not enjoy Spring Awakening. If you want the on stage audience experience, you might want to wait for the family friendly musical Xandu to go on tour instead.

Filing Cabinet Handle Revamp

I got a filing cabinet has a gift to hold all of the papers and whatnots that goes with being a responsible adult. It’s made of flimsy thin metal. I’m sure it was a Wally World (ugh!) special because shortly after we got it the plastic drawer pull snapped off in my hand when I tried to use it to open the drawer.

I looked for a replacement handles at Lowes but I couldn’t find anything that would fit the screw holes that were already drilled in the cabinet drawer front. Husband and I both remarked that we should just go to Staples and get a more substantial filing cabinet and send the cheap-o cabinet to that great metal recycling bin in the sky. OK, not really a recycling bin in the sky, more like the recycling dumpster outside of the fire station around the corner but you get my drift. I was trying to be poetic about refuse.

I was poking around the Habitat Restore and found some hideous brass 1970’s drawer pulls. The only redeeming quality was that these drawer pulls had a back plate that would cover the old screw holes in the drawer front if I needed to drill new ones to install the new handle. Oh, that and the handles were cheap. At fifty cents for the pair I figured that I could do something with them to deuglyfy them and have a more useful filing cabinet once again.

I painted the drawer pulls and back plate with some leftover silver spray paint. Once the silver paint was dry, I painted the interior of the back plate with black paint for interest and to de-70’s the look at bit.

I drilled new holes in the cabinet and install the new drawer pulls. I didn’t have to worry about filling the holes for the old cabinet hardware because they are covered by the boun-chicka-boun-boun 1970’s back plate.

Revamped filing cabinet handles or sneaky hole camouflage, you be the judge. What do you think?

This post is part of Thrifty Green Thursday.

Make a No Slip Stay Put Door Draft Dodger

I installed metal draft blockers on the front and back doors of The Condo. Then I noticed that some areas of The Condo were still cold and a bit drafty – around the doors to my coat closet and pantry, which are both on outside walls. These drafts meant that my heater needs to work a little harder to keep the Condo warm in winter and the air conditioning needs to work a little harder to keep the Condo cool during the summer. These drafts were wasting energy and costing me money – something I try to avoid. I like to save energy and save money on my heating and cooling bills.

What to do? I needed something to block the drafts on those interior doors. I didn’t think a metal draft plate would work on my wooden hollow core doors. I didn’t like how traditional fabric door draft dodger/door draft blocker/door draft stopper/door draft snake won’t stay in place. So I made a no slip stay put door draft dodger. Here’s how I did it.

Not only is making this no slip door draft blocker quick and easy project, but it is also a great stash buster!

You will need:

• Fabric
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Thread
• Needle
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Chopstick, spoon handle, or other pokey tool like thing or a funnel
• Stuffing - such as dried beans, popcorn, rice, aquarium gravel, batting/stuffing, pipe insulation, scrap fabric/rags/t-shirts, bottle caps, wine corks, etc.
• Iron
• Ironing board
• Tacks or small nails
• Hammer

Make it:

1. Use the measuring tape to measure the width of your door.

2. Use the scissors to cut a piece of fabric that is six inches wide and as long as your door measurement plus one inch for a seam allowance.

You’ll notice that I got a little wacky with the material for my draft blocker. I had material leftover when I made my flaming skull iron board cover, so that’s what I used. I figure that since the fabric has flames on it, it might keep the heat in and the cold out a little better. Well, that and no one is really going to see this little draft doo dad but me.

You don't have to use flaming skull fabric for this project to work. You can use whatever fabric you like.

3. Fold the top edge of your fabric over and press in place.

4. Fold the bottom edge of the fabric over and press in place.

5. Fold one of the long ends of the tube over two inches toward the center of the fabric and pin right sides together.

6. Use the sewing machine to sew the seam in place.

7. Remove the pins, turn the tube right side out, and press the seam into place.

8. Fold the top edge of your fabric over 1 inch from the top of the fabric towards the middle of the fabric and pin it in place to make the top tab.

9. Use the sewing machine to sew the seam in place. Remove the pins and use the iron to press the seam.

10. Fold the bottom of fabric so it meets the bottom of the tab to make a tube. Pin through both layers.

11. Use the sewing machine to top sew the seam in place to make a tube with a tab and a closed end.

12. Stuff it! The tube that is. Use your pokey tool or funnel if needed to stuff the tube full of your filling.

• Hint: If you decide to use something light like batting or fabric for the majority of your stuffing, try to put something a little heavier in the draft blocker so it will stay close to the ground and actually block a draft.
  
  
  
  I used bottle caps and wine corks for my draft snake because I’ve been collecting them forever and needed to use them in a project too.

13. Fold the raw edges of the end of the tube toward each other and sew the tube closed with the needle and thread.

14. Use the hammer to hammer the tacks through the tab and into the door. And you’re done!

The tab insures that the draft dodger doesn’t slip when you open and close the door. Brilliant!

Draft Dodger/ Draft Snake/Draft Blocker Variations

• Double draft dodger. You can sew the tabs of two no slip draft blockers together and slide it on either side of a door or window. I did this with the door that goes from the unheated laundry room to my unheated utility room.
  

• No sew variation #1. Cut the leg off a pair of old pants, or a pair of tights, or the arm off an old sweater. Stuff it & tie ends. Tack it to the door.
• No sew variation #2. Roll up an old towel or rug. Wrap it in duct tape and make a tape tab at the top of your draft blocker Tack it to the door using the tape tab.

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This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

Why Solar Panels Won’t Work in Central Ohio

Recently I was discussing how to reduce city energy costs on an online forum. A user offered the opinion that once everyone had converted to producing electricity using only solar and wind energy that we would end our dependency on fossil fuels forever. Many others chimed in, everyone agreed solar, and wind for everyone is the way to go.

Great idea until I looked out my window and saw this.

The branches and what's left of leaves on the tree in my front yard are encased in ice from an ice storm

I noticed that the person who offered this opinion was from Costa Rica, where they have sun in abundance.

I got a little frustrated. Because well, I when I offered the opinion that some of us in the world have weather conditions that won’t allow us to get all of our electricity from those clean sources and that we need something that’s not dependent on the whims of Mother Nature as a backup a few folks got a little angry. They accused me of not being with them and told me I should just use less electricity.

Folks, I got The Condo down to using an average of 15 Kwh of electricity a day last year. I don’t think I can go any lower and not be sitting in the dark.

In Central Ohio, not only are 51% of the days of the year overcast but on those rare winter days when the sun in shining it’s usually after an ice storm. Ice coats everything, from the tree in my front yard to even freezing the flag I have flying from The Condo.

Freezing rain turned to ice and froze the cloth flag flying from my front porch solid

If I had to depend upon all of my home’s electricity coming from a solar panel and wind turbine on The Condo I’d be sitting in the dark right now because those suckers would be incased in ice. I’m not going to break my neck trying to climb up on the roof and chip the ice off the solar panels or wind turbine so I can make my morning coffee.

And people, to be clear, I’d do almost anything to insure that I get my first cup of Fair Trade starter fluid in the morning.

I’m not saying that a solar wind combo is a bad way to produce energy. I use passive solar heat as a free space heater in my bedroom. I also have solar powered garden lights. However, these things only work about 6 months a year in my overcast and icy part of the world.

So to invest in a very costly - and not subsidized by any entity in my city or state - solar array that may only work part time isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Sad, because Husband and I get positivity giddy at the prospect of The Condo’s electric meter running backwards.

I’m just saying that sometimes what works best for your region may not work for where I live. I get frustrated sometimes and I wish that more folks in the environmental big leagues would recognize that for many of us, the best way to be less dependent on fossil fuels is through the tried and true:

• Good insulation
• Sealing air leaks and ducts
• Changing energy wasting habits

I might also add that these things are more attainable and less expensive for the average person to afford no matter where they live too.

You may disagree, especially if you live in a warmer and sunnier climate. That’s OK. In fact, I’d love to discuss with you. Face to face. In your warm and not so icy climate.

Sure looks pretty though.

What do you think? Do you use solar or wind to generate electricity for your home? Do you get frustrated at folks who try to push their environmental item/practice on you when it may not be a good return on investment for you or in your area? How do you handle it?