LiveGreener Nashville

Bovine Ambition

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:48:00 +0000

I want to be exactly like Alexe P. van Beuren.

Check out her latest column in the Oxford Eagle:

Bovine Ambition

Outside my study window lives the only sign of my agricultural ambitions: a fifteen by twenty plot of raised beds, including a pre-existing boxwood, and forty-one heirloom tomato plants.

Thirty-nine, come to think of it. The blight got two that I ripped out yesterday.

I am twenty-five years old and there are days when I want nothing more than to rise at dawn, don overalls, and pad forth from my sleeping family to go deal with chickens, fruit trees, a vegetable garden, and yes, a cow. A milk cow, to be exact.

Somehow, the whole town knows of my ambitions. Yesterday at the farmers' market, the husband of an acquaintance asked me how my pursuit of cow-dom was going... (Click to read more)

This chick is soooooooo awesome. If she weren't already married I'd be hightailing it down to Mississippi with a ring in one hand and a cow in the other.

summer time, and the livin' is LAZY

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:38:00 +0000

23 days between posts... my, aren't I turning into quite the lazy-butt!

In my defense, things are moving quite fast in all this heat, so fast it's hard to keep up.

I have decided to rent out the Graybar condo. Despite all the remodeling we did (and how darn cute i think it looks!), we were unable to sell it and frankly, folks, I'm just ready to move on. I'll be moving over toward the 12 south district (walking to the frothy monkey and the devi clinic? yes, please!) and two very sweet girls will be moving into Graybar.

Needless to say, moving out is taking up a lot of head space! Mixed in with all of that are money-thoughts. The Prius has been the "biggest" green thing I've done, and it has been cause for lots of thinking about both my place in the big world and my little concerns about money and quality of life.

The past 8 months have been a time of great changes for me in the way i think about my life and my goals about how i want to live it. Living like a hotel guest in the condo while it's been on the market has been at the center of these thoughts... one big thought was "should I sell the Prius?"

Cons:
- I only have to fill up once a month most of the time
- what am I gonna buy to replace it? some old clunker that breaks down all the time? I've been using the Prius to drive to Memphis & Chattanooga for my new job and it really pays off b/c the company reimburses mileage at $0.505 a mile!
- if i get a bike, what the hell am I going to do when it rains? when i have to look nice (i.e. not sweaty?)
- I just bought a new set of tires for it
- I am seriously attached to the cute little thing

Pros: (here's where it gets interesting)
- According to the Kelley Blue Book site, I could actually private-party sell my car for just $1,413 less than the loan i took out on it originally... that's $2,554 more than I currently owe on the loan. What i boils down to is that I could basically sell the prius and it would have only cost me $6K to use it for 17 months.
- If those numbers are correct, I could get a bike and stop using gas pretty much altogether (just renting a car when i need to drive out of town - and if those numbers are correct, I could rent a car 40% of the year.)

So.
I'm really having a hard time with this.
Given that the condo has not sold, while the renters will be covering my mortgage costs, I still have the debt i incurred in remodeling the little beastie. Not having a car payment would mean i could pay those suckers down much faster than I will currently be able to.
But, I whine to myself, I like her so muuuuuuuuch...

Well, a happy Friday to you all. I'm looking forward to a weekend of a little packing (I probably have 2 boxes of stuff in addition to the furniture) and a lot of taking advantage of my last weekend to be blissing out on the back patio. This time next week, chickadees, I'll be out of that condo until at least July 31 2009.

Urban Dictionary

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:13:00 +0000

I've known about Urban Dictionary for some time now, but it was only recently that I realized that they, too, had a Word of the Day email (just like dictionary.com).

Today's WOTD delighted me...

carbon guilt n. The feeling of guilt for using too much carbon, e.g. too much air travel, driving to the corner shop in the car, etc.
'Man, I have to fly to Zurich for the second time this month'
'Whoa, you must have some major carbon guilt over that'

The City Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:00:00 +0000

So.

My little tomato plants are doing okay. I haven't killed them yet, which is a sign that they're very robust, perhaps even Super Tomatoes. Hopefully not Killer Tomatoes, just plants that can survive my flakiness.

As the condo is still on the market, my daydreams of being greener by growing my own veggies and hanging clothes on a line instead of using the dryer are still just daydreams. Still and all, the way I'm living now seems itself an interesting experiment in being green. Living so minimally - no cable, minimum wardrobe/makeup/accessories, being strapped for cash - is really not that bad. Not to say that I don't sort of lust over the thought of watching the History Channel now and then... or actually putting on eyeliner... or being able to participate in NPR's summer e-pledge day (I've been wanting to do the $5/month thing since Jeff did it last year but I keep thinking "it's dumb to do that when you're eating off-brand mac'n'cheese...").

Anyway, my daydreaming of tomatoes has been amdended, now, to include chickens. Chickens and tomatoes. I think I could subsist off of tomatoes, fresh monzarella and eggs for the rest of my life. Why? Because I was thinking about having one chicken. I mean, you can keep chickens as domestic pets as far as I know.

What happened is that I was reading on Slate.com and found my way to this site, called The City Chicken, about keeping your own chickens in urban areas. While i don't think it's feasible to have a chicken right now (or maybe ever, if I'm going to be renting somewhere), I was thinking that it might be possible to have one down at mom and dad's when they move here. That would also mean I could just make them raise the chicken! Brilliant!

good vs. evil

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:21:00 +0000

So, I've run into two products today, both of which deserve a mention.
First, Brunswick Beeworks
is a new local honey supplier! The closest local honey they have at Whole Foods is from Goodlettsville - and Brunswick makes candles and skin stuff!
Whoohoo!

Second, there's a Slate article about Proctor & Gamble's Olay Body Wash Plus Spa Exfoliating Ribbons. YUCK. I read a while back about the Giant Sea of Plastic and was freaked out, but this Olay stuff is actually DELIBERATELY putting microplastic out there! We're not talking about plastic trash that's breaking down, this stuff is MADE like this and put in something that we're using to wash our bodies and then flushing "away".
Yuck yuck yuck.

E2A: I sent that article over to Beth at Fake Plastic Fish, and lo and behold, she already knew about it! Check out her blog post on it, from nearly a year ago!, because it's got some great resources.

"I hit a dog..."

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:42:00 +0000

While I'm mildly ashamed to admit that I watched Jackass, I will staunchly and loudly proclaim that the one scene where they rent a car, modify it and then crash it was hysterical - mostly because when they return it, they say "I hit a dog." Not that hitting a dog is funny, but, you know.

Anyway, thanks to xkcd.com for another idea of what to do with a rental car...

I want some of these

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:37:00 +0000

Ideal Bite, an enewsletter I subscribe to, is selling bags with their logo.
They are super-cute... when i have some cash to throw at those folks, I'm going to buy some.

For now, go subscribe to their newsletter - my designer friend Molly put me onto them and they are sassy and funny and ALWAYS topical! Love 'em!

Green remodel follow-up

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:30:00 +0000

I've been enjoying the bamboo floors for 6 months now, and stumbled upon an article on Slate.com today that had me revisit the decision.

If I'm remembering properly, this is the flooring that we bought.
I have searched and searched but I can't find anything about this company on the internet. Next time I'm at HD, I'm going to look for the company's number on the box... although it's possible i'll have to call HD instead.

I'm still pretty happy with the floors. They're easy to clean and haven't undergone any real damage since I've been using them daily. I wonder, though, about the points cited in the Slate article.
What kind of sealant is on there? what kind of growing practices were used on that bamboo?

In the end, i guess, there's only so much we can do. There are only so many hours in the day. I hope that, like my Prius purchase, my buy will spur others to also buy bamboo products and make them more popular and prevalent. But I can't spend all day, every day researching the minutae of different companies. It feels exhausting.

I'm doing the best I can, I guess, and ultimately I'm happy with those floors b/c they were the best decision I felt I could make.

And they are just so pretty...

Greenius at Cafe Coco

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:49:00 +0000

So last Wednesday I went to see the awesome Stacy Allyn Baker (Boatman) at Cafe Coco and couldn't believe I hadn't seen any sets there before. Their back room is kick-ass... there's a bench built in along the back wall where we sat and I am totally going back again.

I really want to go this Thursday (alas, I have to go down to the ATL to talk to some quilty-ladies about their website plans for the next year), because Greenius is playing at 9 PM. My friend Melanie (who just got married! yay!) says it's "organic music designed to make society grow."

I love it! I can't believe I'm out of town for it, but I'm going to hit them up next time. Of course, me having to guzzle gas doesn't mean you can't go! Go check 'em out and let me know how it was!

bad habits, good habits, red fish blue fish... what?

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:26:00 +0000

So Tyler, our new part-timer, has been making coffee in the mornings at work and I simultaneously love him and hate him for it. Because I love the coffee but I really ought not drink it. It turns me into a jumping bean.

I had been furtively sneaking small amounts in the little disposable starbucks cups that we had left over from some event Lauren did, and that seemed sufficient to keep me from drinking much of it, but it also meant I was using disposable cups :(

anyway, I'm a sucker for sale items at starbucks and snagged a lovely mug there the other day for $3, so now I have my own coffee mug for my desk at work.

In the same beverage-related vein, after all the hubbub over BPA in Nalgene & other plastic bottles, I used it as an excuse to pick up a Camelbak for me and for mom.

They are both on my desk right now, lovely and green in the flourescent lighting.

thanks, Mr. Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:21:00 +0000

So, back when i was buying the Prius, I thought long and hard about the impact that its actual production (well, the production of any new car) would have on the environment. I had heard about the toxicity of the batteries and the problems with producing them, and I knew that buying anything new is not really a green activity.

However, it's always nice to get some concrete numbers to go with what you already sort of know. Many thanks to Jeff for the link.

I did pretty much know this when i decided to purchase the little bugger, but I hoped then, and I do still hope, that my purchase wasn't stupid. I hope that by hopping on the hybrid bandwagon, I helped just a little to push forward hybrid and electric technology.

::sigh:: I don't know. I've already put 25K on the Prius over the past year, so, according to the article, I'll have overcome that new/old car carbon gap. Of course, if I just stopped driving altogether, that would be even greener...

and spring became the summer

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:51:00 +0000

Well, regular season college baseball is at a close - the conference tourneys start up at the end of this week - and summer is surely upon us.

I totally forgot to tell y'all that my "carbon pawprint" article (downloads a .pdf) came out in the March/April issue of Nashville Paw. Somewhat of a combo of me and Heather, the editor, composing it, but it's alright I suppose.

I have a temporary roommate for the moment (please, universe, see fit to have my condo sell) who is AWESOME. Here's her website. She just moved back to Nashville from NYC and is waiting for the lease to be up from the person renting her house, so I'm getting the benefits of having a wonderful person to share my space, pay attention to Madeline and cook dinner! And, this Saturday (last I heard), she's starting a Yoga In The Park class in Centennial! It never occured to me before, but doing yoga on the ground - not on concrete or a wooden floor - really sounds wonderful.

A couple of weekends ago, Madeline and I went with Julie & Hayley to the Centennial Dog Park, and it was AWESOME!!! Maddie is so weird - she didn't want to have anything to do with anyone but me when we were in the big dog section (which, really, there were small dogs in there, too, lots of dachshunds and shih zus and terriers), but when we went over to the small dog section, she was friendly as could be! The thought of living 1 block from there makes me tingle with delight. Walking to work, baseball AND the dog park? I'm smitten.

The more I think about it, the more I'm contemplating jettisoning the Prius. Well, really, I'm thinking about making Matt take it, getting rid of his big 'ole truck, and just having him bring it to me when i need to make a long drive (or, heck, renting one!). Talk about cutting costs! No insurance, no necessary parking space, no oil changes, no car payment! WOW!

Anyway, I'm rambling. Summer is definitely in full swing outside, with June just around the corner. I cannot WAIT for some poolside margaritas and some beer on the lake.

toothpaste for dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:04:00 +0000

This guy's stuff is awesome!

Thanks, Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:50:00 +0000

There's been discussion around the office of late about moms.

My mom made an awesome wall hanging that I get to babysit until she has a place to display it.

But to the point, Stephanie brought up just how green our moms have always been, and we're only just now actually taking their advice. She's writing her mom a letter for mother's day (their tradition left over from the days of post-grad-no-cash-even-for-ramen, and quite a green tradition in and of itself), and this year she's writing about how her mom was green before it was cool.

Some stuff we brainstormed about mom-advice that now everyone is touting as being green:

Let it Mellow - why waste water on just flushing pee? Even I, in my please-dear-lord-let-it-sell-soon condo with the dual-flush toilets lets it mellow once or twice before flushing. You can save 1-7 gallons per flush depending on your toilet!

Washing dishes by hand - this is actually not true. Steph was talking about how her mom made them fill one side of the sink with hot water and the other with cold so that they didn't use running water or the dishwasher. This was true, with older appliances, but with the new Energy Star appliances, it turns out that even the most disciplined hand-dishwashers only equal the efficiency of newer dishwashing machines (according to a German study). Your best bet for greening your dishes is to use a soap that's biodegradable like Seventh Generation or the Melaleuca stuff I get).

Turning off lights when you leave a room - I've actually seen an increase in my electric bill since I started leaving a bunch of lights on. Since it's on the market, I leave the lights on when I know people will be coming to view the place, and it really is costing me money.

Close the refrigerator/front/back/car door - If you've never heard Jeff Foxworthy's imitation of his mother yelling out the front door "we're not gonna heat up the neighborhood," I highly suggest it. This is just good advice, and to take it a step further, think about adding those little insulator pads to your electrical outlets and light switches and moving your fridge away from the stove or dishwasher so it doesn't have to work so hard.

Use one cup a day - I've pretty much swapped over to all reusable cups, but even with that I end up using three or four a day. Steph and I had the same experience as kids, her in her own house and me at my cousin's - we were only allowed to use one cup a day, and we had a spot on the counter where we sat it when we were done with it. This can really cut down on the number of times you fill up your dishwashwer!

Hang the clothes out to dry - a while ago, Burban mom had a great string of posts about reducing her use of their clothes dryer. I'm not there yet (oh, I dream of the days I'll be in a place that's not for sale), but I can't wait. I did drag out the drying rack when i was living down at Matt's, and it was great. I kept it in the laundry room, where it was already warm.

Clean your plate - I always felt like this was encouraging me to overeat, but really, if we thought about the amount of food we put on our plates to begin with , we'd end up with the same result. Check out Crunchy Chicken's Project NOWASTE.

No buying drinks - when i was a little little kid, we weren't allowed to buy drinks when we went out to eat - we could get water or sometimes milk. This rule fell by the wayside as we and the Grand Southern Tradition of sweet tea wore our mother down, but my stinginess has brought me back to it, and brings up another great point about drinking bottled beverages, especially water. Just don't do it.

I'm sure we'll be coming up with others over the next week as we get ready for Mother's Day, but that's all we've got for now - any suggestions from y'all?

Outdoors all this weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:50:00 +0000

So, in case you are living under a rock (like me... there are many different kinds of rocks, including sinus infections and for-sale condos), this Saturday is the Earth Day celebration at Centennial Park from 11-7. Make sure you check out the Greener Nashville Tent, where, along with Gardens of Babylon, they'll be giving away 1,000 free baby oak trees!

Many thanks to jeffmradio for tipping me off to the Billboard Green 10! I've really been digging KT Tunstall lately, and it's no surprise that Willie is up there!

Meanwhile, Rites of Spring is now swingin' over at Vandy, so head over there to catch some yummy tunes like Lady Antebellum, Feist & Old Crow Medicine Show. Between Rites and VU baseball vs. Auburn, I'm going to be at Vandy all weekend!

Tayst goes green!

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:46:00 +0000

If you haven't seen the tidbit in the Scene, Tayst restaurant, a little place across from the Gardens at Hillsboro Village on 21st Ave, has gone green!

So much going on in the 'ville!

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000

In case you missed it, last Sunday was Earth Hour, where you were supposed to turn out your lights for an hour, but apparently the folks down in Australia didn't take March Madness into consideration when choosing a Sunday. Sadly, we did not participate due to the pressing need to watch the Elite Eight games.

Down in Williamson County, the kids at Hillsboro elementary/middle are participating in the Free the Children Water Project. The thought of all the bottles of coke and PowerAde that are not being trashed warms the cockles of me 'eart it does... but they're still drinking water out of bottles:

According to the scorecard, students can save up to $1.50 per glass by drinking water rather than milk, soda or juice and up to $1 per bottle on sports drinks. Every time they drink a glass or bottle of water, they put that savings into a cup. At the end of the two weeks, the money will be collected. (emphasis mine)

I don't know anything about the Free the Children thing, but the project sounds like a good idea to me, at least to raise awareness... but I wish they were thinking about the bottled water part of it as well (see Think Outside the Bottle for why)

In other news, there's finally an answer to the question of what will be done with the old Wild Oats building... a Trader Joe's is moving in! I think I've talked before about how I miss the old Wild Oats - I liked how small and homey it felt compared to the new Whole Foods. Not to say I don't like the WF, but I miss the way things were. I'm excited to see what a Trader Joe's is like, finally, and maybe I'll be going there instead of WF soon.

Also, in case you haven't checked out the Greener Nashville site or you don't get their eblasts, there is a big Green Business expo going on over at Lipscomb today.

That's it for this week, folks! Stay dry and warm, and let me know if you want to buy a condo!

nice tidbit from Breszny

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:20:00 +0000

The Nashville Scene publishes Rob Breszny's Free Will Astrology every week, but you can get it at his website, too.

In the email he sent out this week (many thanks to my boss for passing this on every week), there was this very nice factoid:

REBORN STEEL

The North American steel industry annually recycles millions of tons of steel scrap from recycled cans, automobiles, appliances, construction materials, and other steel products. The scrap is remelted to produce new steel. Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone. The industry's overall recycling rate is 68 percent.

Thanks, Whole Foods!

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:27:00 +0000

Whole Foods finally got some biodegradable meal boxes that actually fit a whole meal. They're made of bullrushes.

Yay!
The plastic ones that I had to use when I forgot my rubbermaid one always irritated me.

I am really looking forward to this weekend - hopefully Monday I will actually have caught up with everything and can focus on having a regular schedule, complete with actual posts rather than silly posts. I am pretty proud of myself for providing a picture for this one, despite its simplicity :)

EPA air standards & Williamson county

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Driving into work this morning on my insanely long commute really pinched this morning because of a story i heard on NPR - Apparently Williamson county is one of 345 counties in the US that is now above the new smog limit that's just been set by the EPA.

Besides the obvious (dirty air = yuck!), what bothers me about it all is this:

"The EPA's new smog limit is 75 parts per billion of ozone... The EPA's independent science advisory panel unanimously had said the standard should be no higher than 70 parts per billion...

Industry groups, which had said before the announcement that the limit shouldn't be lowered at all, said they were disappointed with the decision.

The new standard "could have a devastating effect on manufacturing employment," said John Engler, chief of the National Association of Manufacturers. "

ARGH!!!!!!! If you are doing something that is hurting/killing people, then you either need to stop or find another, non-lethal way! Good god! They're "disappointed"?!?!?!?!?!

Well, I'm disappointed that little kids in big cities have asthma at an alarmingly disproportionate rate! I'm disappointed that when i use a sponge to clean off my window sills or outdoor furniture, there's black nastiness that reminds me of what's in my LUNGS (read some more about air quality and health here). I know that Nashville isn't the Bronx, but if I remember correctly from my Geology class back in the day, Nashville is ituated in a 'geographic bowl', where, due to the topography, pollutants get trapped and sort of settle over the city. So there are air quality concerns here that are on my mind. But Industry is disappointed, so let's not get ahead of ourselves...

a 'green' St. Patrick's day

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:29:00 +0000

So, the new job is going quite well... but that means my green blogging - pobrecita! - is suffering.

Do as I say, not as I do - don't let your Green Life suffer because your financial, housing and professional life is in turmoil!

Be really Green this St. Patrick's Day - check out this awesome Slate article about the relatively green-ness of green beer.

Then, go even greener by buying some local suds from Yazoo Brewery.

And if you're going out, Dan McGuinness is the mainstream choice (I went last year and it was pretty fun but also super crowded), but you should also check out the Family Wash over in East Nashville, where they've got locally made beer brats and vegetarian shepherd's pie!

Good news abounds as we head into March

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:28:00 +0000

Well, today is a red-letter day in my greening little world - it is my last day at my current job, meaning that I will be starting my new job on Monday! I told you before about some of the green-issues I had with my job, but another one was that I was still driving too much for my tastes - about 20 miles round trip a day - make that up to 40 if i went home or out for lunch.

The new job (can you hear me squealing with excitement?) is only .6 miles from my intended new condo (still waiting on the old one to sell before I can get into the new one, but even if the world ended and I moved back in, it's only 3.3 miles from the old one!)! I WILL GET TO WALK TO WORK!

I cannot tell you how exciting this is. As much as I love the little Prius, she's been put through her paces with these 40 mile drives back and forth from Murfreesboro, and walking to work will seem like HEAVEN (I hear Sinatra crooning faintly in the background...)

And that 40 mile drive is weighing even more heavily on me with the rising gas prices (gas in the 'boro hit $3.09 last weekend, the highest I've seen it down there - the highest I've ever seen was $3.33 on the corner of Belmont and 21st after Katrina). And timely as ever, my uncle popped this in my inbox this morning - Volkswagen is unveiling a hybrid that's supposed to get 69.9 mpg.

So a happy Leap Day to you all! VU Baseball began last week, and the Music City Classic is underway as I type. Come on Spring, get sprung already!

Greening the dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:11:00 +0000

So, I have a good excuse. Last Friday, blogger wasn't allowing me access. That's my story and I'm using it for all it's worth. Never mind the fact I've felt like roadkill or that I'm still living at Matt's. but I digress...

For those of you who don't know, I've hooked up with Nashville PAW, writing something for their bi-monthly issues. The current issue (you can download a .pdf here) has my article about how to deal with the death of a pet.

What brings it up here, thought, is my next assignment - writing about how to go green with your pet! I'm really excited about this one, since I've already been making efforts to green up Madeline and Georgia, and I thought that I'd devote a post to what I've been doing with them, as a way to get geared up for the article.

For her whole life, Georgia has been pad-trained. This is thanks to the efforts of mom and dad, who managed to train a mutt to pee only inside a little blue square. Over the years, many of my friends have been alternately fascinated and grossed out (high school friends seemed to take it in stride, but over this past year, my poor roommate, Maggie, just couldn't stand it). When Georgia came to live with me in Nashville, she continued on her pad plan, and with the occasional weird accident (we think it's more of a political statement than 'accident'), she's done pretty well, even though she's 15.

Madeline, on the other hand, is NOT ~~pad~~ trained. She is insane. Ceasar Milan and I are trying to work through this, slowly but surely. We have had several successes. We are going on walks in the evening, which seem to chill her out a little bit. She does, generally, let me know when she wants to go outside to pee. But since I am driving so far to work these days, she is now spending her days in the bathroom, with a puppy pad that - ::shock:: ::awe:: she uses! This was a major victory for us. Then, last night, I caught her using Georgia's pad! This is wonderful! Still, she has her accidents, but I got her some Pooch Pants for times when i just can't monitor her every move, and things are working out well.

So - what's so green about this, you ask? Using those blue pads is AWFUL! It's like using disposable diapers! YUCK!

Well, about 6 months ago, I started experimenting with washable alternatives to those things. What I've ended up with is a combination of using washable pads that are meant for baby mattresses and putting 1/2 towels on top of them. The pee soaks in, but the poo gets tossed in the toilet. The pads get reused for a few days, but the used towels go in a trash can that (IS STIIIIIIINKY!) gets washed at least once a week. I'm using more water, but less stuff is ending up in the landfill.

I also found a really cool link today that fascinated me - here's a clip:

The Fairbanks North Star Borough estimates there are over 20,000 dogs within the 7,000 square mile borough. In Alaska, dogs are used for transportation, recreation and competitive sports. All these dogs produce a large volume of dog manure. Prior to this study the recommended disposal method for dog waste was to tightly seal it in plastic bags and haul it to the landfill. One musher reported that he threw dog waste over the river bank. Another said he tied the dogs on the river in the winter so the waste would wash away during the spring. Pollution from dog waste poses a serious threat to water quality, wildlife and public health.

WOW! Anyway, it's about how you can compost dog poo. Now, if I were cool like my brother and lived in a house, I could have a compost bin and a garden. But since I'm a city girl, into the sewer it goes.

So, that's my big 'green' project as far as the dogs go. They also are using Mrs. Meyer's Oatmeal Pet Shampoo and this new freshener stuff I just got from Pure Ayre. I'm looking forward with Madeline, who (since she goes outside) will probably need some sort of flea repellent. I got this Sentry product that I am going to try - it's all essential oils.

Georgia seems to have adapted to the towels-instead-of-blue-pads just fine, and the shampoo is a delightful experience for me, so we're pretty happy.

Well, onward and upward. We're venturing into March Madness season, folks, so things can only get more insane! I'm off to the VU vs. UT game tonight - catch it on ESPN if you know what's good fer ya!

Green Remodel phase 4: on the market!

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:20:00 +0000

Well, folks - the two-week (unplanned) hiatus has come to an end - after much effort, sweat, sawdust, paint and adrenaline, my Graybar unit is on the market!

You can check out the official photos here.

Notice all the cool enviro-friendly stuff - those toilets are dual flow (according to Dad, you don't need the second flow - the small one is enough... thanks for the TMI, dad), the floors are solid bamboo, the a/c control is digital. We left in the original cabinets but repainted and re-hardwared them, and we left in the kitchen countertops and matched the rest of the countertops to them (reuse is one of those three Rs!).

Also, I took a video of the place while it was still in progress (with all intentions being to post it last week - ::sigh:: this remodel really got the better of me!)

As for me, I'm camping out in Murfreesboro with the dogs and my very gracious, very patient brother. I'll keep you updated - my next post, I think, will be about Nashville's Lipscomb U, which is one of a handful of universities that has been chosen for a green-test pilot program.

Green Remodel phase 3: cleaning up and health concerns

noreply@blogger.com (Big D) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:00:00 +0000

With the floors nearly completed and all the plumbing stuff ordered, last week we reconnoitered to clean up what had quickly become a dust bomb. The sheetrock dust, sawdust and good ole people dust had combined to make the 1,000 square feet of condo look like a war zone.

Thank goodness mom arrived with her organizational skills (and, of course, a healthy dose of guilt for us about how messy we've been). We got that place clean and empty in just one afternoon. That freed up space to finish off the floors, and now we'll move on to the painting while our tile guy flies through the bathrooms and we await the arrival of toilets, sinks and countertops.

But getting the rest of my stuff out of the place and trying to quell the dust cloud (which resulted in both Matt and Dad hacking and horking) got me interested in how to stay healthy when you're remodeling. Obviously, you can't help making dust & dirt or disturbing what's already there. Not only that, but sometimes you're forced to use supplies that aren't exactly carbon-based-life-form-friendly.

Case in point is the experience of laying the bamboo floors in the back two rooms. We had to take up the carpet & pad that was there and then lay the floor directly on the concrete. In addition to the nasty dust created while trying rip up the carpet and then scraping bits of padding off of the slab (the padding was originally glued to the concrete with god-knows-what-kind-of glue), we then had to saw the flooring to fit where needed and then glue it down (whereas in the rest of the house we could nail it to the existing wood floors). Not only do you have a lung issue (ack - concrete dust and wood dust?!), but you have the problem of how to remove glue from your skin (Dad, that health nut, uses turpentine).

So - what can you do to stay healthy while remodeling? How can you keep your lungs safe? What can you use to clean so you don't burn off your skin? Here's some stuff I've found that can see you through any remodeling project.

Dust is oft-encountered and rather benign-seeming at first - from sheetrock, wood, etc. One of the first projects we did was opening up the wall to create a bar area between the kitchen and living room. This resulted in sheetrock removal, repair... and DUST.

Different kinds of dust cause different reactions, but in general, inhalation can lead to allergic reactions, asthma, diminished lung capacity, and cancer. Check out the CDC NIOSH report and the section about wood dust on this site.

There are lots of facemask options at out there, ranging from super-cheap to luxurious. And, if you're going to be kicking up dust in a localized, interior area, check out this super-cool toy called a ZipWall! I really wish we'd had that!

As for the glue, dad looked and looked, but could not find one that was non-toxic.
We bought this. When you're using this glue, it's best to wear a mask against the fumes and chemical-resistant gloves. When you need to clean glue off the wood itself (or your skin... if you didn't wear the aforementioned gloves... DAD), you CAN get something less corrosive than turpentine (which ) - try these wipes made by a glue company.

However, as I was looking for safety information, I came across this glue that is 100% green! MAN, I wish we'd known about this! It's DriTrac EcoUrethane. ::sigh:: I just have to remember that this *is* a learning process.

In my search for safety-related information, I also stumbled upon a very in-depth document provided by the CDC NIOSH about ergonomics for construction workers! Although my focus in terms of health was about avoiding poisonous stuff, I was intrigued that this document exists! It focuses on tools that help avoid physical stress as well as educates the reader a little bit about ergonomics.

Anyway, all of this continues to be a learning process! I will certainly be happy when the messy part is over, and we can finally get this puppy on the market. For now, though, I'll just have to content myself with digging into all this new information!