Things that make you go, "hmmmmm....."

As I have written previously, I am trying to go "green." My attempts have been modest: I purchased a car that gets 35 mpg, I am recycling my paper, plastic & glass (which has decreased what I put curbside by about 75%). As I consider getting ridden of my allergen permeated wall to wall carpeting, I am probably going to go with carbonized bamboo. It looks nice, is renewable (believe me, I have seen how hard it can be to get rid of that bamboo), and has an excellent hardness rating.

Recently, I was reading an article in Science magazine about biofuels. I had heard, what I believe is likely an urban legend, that biofuels burn less efficiently and that they tear up gaskets in cars. This article suggests that they burn more efficiently. However the very disturbing information was that grain-based biofuels, under their current form of management, may be causing more environmental harm! Due to tilling crops, with the burden of soil erosion, the need for fertilizers, etc. this may be a source of increased global warming.

PEOPLE! We need, no HAVE to start thinking in this country. The incredibly detrimental impact of fossil fuels on our environment has been well documented. Why would we choose to up-ramp another fuel source, that will potentially increase the global warming effect? Oh, yeah. It's easy.....fail.

The article goes on to describe cellulosic ethanol. This is a type of biofuel produced from the structural material that compromises the "mass of plants" -- the corn stalk, grasses, woodchips can all be starting material. This has great promise since the starting materials are potentially in much greater supply than that used for grain based ethanol. For reasons that are beyond my brain this morning, although this material takes more processing to get to the sugar monomers that are needed to ferment the alcohol, cellulosic ethanol is predicted to reduce greenhouse emissions by 85% over reformulated gasoline. Also, it can be made from sources that be grown without annual tillage, thereby reducing soil erosion and helping preserve soil integrity (without the need for toxic fertilizers). Actually, it sounds like something that might be grown on the less fertile land that we have in my area.

As we go forward, we need to think about our choices. As I watch the current financial debacle, I see a panic response to something that was predicted over 9 years ago when the subprime mortgage business started (there was an interesting article in the NYT written in 9/99 predicting the bailout that is now underway; I must admit that they didn't envision the magnitude of the bailout). It seems that there is a panic patch being applied to something that many were writing about and suggesting for the last several YEARS. We can not afford to apply the same panic response to our environment. That being said, we also can not afford continue to stick our collective heads in the global sand and do nothing....which seems to be the approach that our government has perfected.

Just my 2 cents...probably shouldn't be writing in a sleep deprived state, though.

I tried to poison the dogs...

Obviously, not really. I would never poison my dogs. But I was a bad owner. Very bad.

I had taken the girls (Gabi and Mati) into work to take care of some last minute business before the weekend. I left them in the truck as temperatures were cool. When I came out, they had chewed into a container of fire ant bait and eaten bait..... my heart stopped. I drove home as fast as I could and gave them each a big dose of hydrogen peroxide. In dogs, that will induce emesis (unfortunately for us, I know this from other experiences with not-dog appropriate ingestions). Both girls threw up a moderate amount of the bait. I called my vet, who told me that they should be fine....not believing that, I called a friend who is a vet and works at veterinary school. Unfortunately, we were beyond the bewitching hour, when most had gone home, but she was able to access some articles that I had been unable to find. After a frantic series of calculations (I just can not do math when I am freaked out about my dogs), we determined that they dose that they had received, assuming that they hadn't thrown up was quite small and would not hurt them in a one time exposure.

Still....it had my heart going. I think the ant bait is made with corn meal as a carrier, and dogs love all things corn (at least mine do). I try to keep my home and yard safe....it's always that time when one just happens to let their guard down (or forget about that 3rd container of bait).

A new ride or it is all about fitting in.

As usual, we went to the property for some running time. Since our last visit, I traded in the Toyota Sienna (a vehicle that I NEVER liked during the 87,000 miles that I clocked on it; however, it was good for the dogs) for a Toyota Tacoma. The Sienna just wasn't cutting it for driving across the pasture.
There is just something nice about going to the property. I think it is the smiling dogs. I will never tire taking pictures of smiling dogs.
We had a good time running around, although the grass was quite tall. I have got to get a trailer so that I can take my mower up and mow an area for tennis ball chucking.

The dogs seem to like the truck, although Hudi seems to think that I should have gotten the running boards. Thank goodness I didn't get a Toyota Tundra! Yup -- I'm thinking about getting a hat and boots, next. It's all about fitting in! (I noticed that when I was out on the land with the van parked, people would slow down and look. We didn't drawn any attention today!)

Whippets can kill

This afternoon, I was doing the random internet wander. While looking for cool whippet sites, I ran into a blog with the heading "Death by suffocation: How whippets can kill you." I clicked, imagining a nice satire on the potential death by whippet (you know, how whippets defy gravity and weigh 100 lbs when in bed with you while only being 32 lbs with all four feet on the ground, etc.)
Instead, it was a blog about the noxious effects of inhaled substances. Now, I agree that inhaling things out of a can, whether it be paint or Cool Whip isn't good, I was really disappointed. After all, whippets can kill. Ask Charlie (the dog who always seem to get the bottom layer in the pile).

We have survived....

Ike came through our neighborhood, and we have survived. My heart goes to those who did not do so well.

In the beginning, they were predicting tropical storm type winds, possibly hurricane force when it hit my 'hood. Well, I think Ike was still a TS, but it's punch was not very hard at all. There certainly was concern in the beginning.

I called a friend from high school Friday evening. We grew up in Baytown -- a town much closer to the major action. Her parents, who still reside in Baytown had finally decided to evacuate. The reports that they were receiving were not good.

On other notes, I have had a visitor for the past week. Peanut, who is Mati's littermate brother. Can you see the family resemblance in the photos below? (I would have had to crop them differently to make them show up the same size....feeling lazy on this Sunday).

I hope that thosewere or who had family in the direct path of Ike are doing OK...

I have joined the digital age, kind of....

A couple of weeks ago, I trekked into the Big City. When I first moved to Smalltown, I traveled to the Big City at least once a week....I don't know when I stopped, or when I began to DETEST the process. I hate going there, but occasionally, it is a necessary evil.

My new car was scheduled to arrive in a couple of weeks (she is here now...), and so I wanted to check out portable MP3 devices. I went to Best Buy.....my, I am OUT of the loop. So many cool, cool gadgets. I finally settled on an I-Pod and got a FM transmitter so that I could play it in my van.

How did I miss this fad? I know that my niece has gone through 4 of these things. How did I think that these were only for the young? This is one of the best devices that I have EVER acquired -- ranks right up there with my first PC and my first lap top! Right now, I am converting all of my CD's to MP'3 (or whatever format IPod uses). Ahhhh. I have sort of caught up. For the moment.

The next in our reach for success series

We went out to the property yesterday. The dogs had a great time. We have received 3.5 very welcome inches of rain in the past week, and more is predicted this weekend (hasn't come, yet) and coming week. The ground was soft. The predicted high was only 84. As, I wrote....the dogs had a great time.
Mati added to her REACH for Success series. The picture is a little out of focus, but I couldn't resist:Yup, the girl is a tennis ball FIEND.

When we arrived, the bovine unit was at the south end of the property. However, they couldn't stand not knowing what was happening, so after about half an hour, they lumbered to our end. You know, despite the fact that they still kind of scare me, I am beginning to think that they are really cute.
Gabi, of course, was still called to her Herding Dog side, and several discussions with the cows about their location on the fence line. Apparently, she does not like being watched when she plays tennis ball retrieve.
Hudi, not to be out-done by Gabi, also tried a little policing. I don't know if you can tell, but this cow was not really listening to her at all. Hudi rapidly succumbed to fear and well, kind of gave up with her tail between her legs.
I don't know what it is, but I really like seeing cows living on land that I own. And, yeah, they are BIG animals, but really cute.....