Saving water usage
I know I've already written some posts about saving water and energy, but just a bit ago I was thinking about an old friend of mine who didn't have a very good well at her house. She had to use all kinds of little tricks to save water - it was a necessary issue. So, I'm going to begin employing some of the tricks she used. It should save me a little electricity for the well pump and at the same time be water conservation friendly.
- Catch the washing machine rinse water and reuse it for the next wash cycle.
- Use filtered rainwater in the washing machine instead of pumping well water into it.
- Set up a solar water heater to heat filtered rainwater for personal hygiene needs. Not brushing teeth, of course, but hand washing, bathing, washing hair....
- Use the soapy washing machine water for plants and garden beds.
I've begun doing some of this myself. I'm saving washing machine water to use on garden beds plus I'm catching the rinse water to put back into the machine for the next wash load. I have to admit that right now, carrying it in buckets makes my arms feel like I've been working out with Kettlebells, but I'm hoping that next payday I can invest in a submersible pump to help me push the water where I want it to go.
You may have other ideas and I welcome your comments and I welcome them!
Labels: Musings, Science
Home weather station
One way to really captivate your child's mind is to have cool tools on hand. Especially, techie tools that can use your home computer to monitor the weather outside and the environment inside. Home weather stations are a really inexpensive way to keep up with the weather and track it on your computer. Let your child monitor it daily, write reports, and learn how weather men get a view of the current conditions.
These home weather stations can be found at places like Circuit City that deal in electronics, computers, and gadgets of all kinds.
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Science of weather
Locally, the topic of conversation seems to be the weather. I'm sure that's true where you live as well. For us, it seems that we went straight from winter to summer, with no spring weather as a buffer zone for starting plants and gardens. For example, we went from rainy weather with temperatures in the 50s or so to the way it has been the last few days - hot, dry, and temperatures hovering near 100.
In addition, we've experienced several strong storms that include wicked straight line winds and even some tornadic activity. Today, Saturday, is a prime example. The temperature this morning at 5:30 was already 85 and went up from there. Now, at 5 p.m., the skies are darkly overcast and a wind is getting up, indicating we may be in for yet another strong storm.
Afternoon storms like this are known as convection storms. The hot air near the surface of the earth rises rapidly, causing currents and meeting with cooler air higher in the atmosphere. That air wants to drop, causing some turbulence and also creating the conditions that can feed strong thunderstorms and spur tornadoes.
NOAA has some great information about weather, of course, including some activities your family might be interested in Just go and see what you can download. I think you'll have fun while you learn!
Labels: Science
Crickets
I never used to consider crickets as a pest, but they really are when they're in your house. Just recently, I've lost several items of clothing to crickets. They chew fabric and make holes in it, making the garment not wearable.
I discovered this fact a number of years ago and have been pretty successful in keeping them out of the house. However, I'm finding that they are in the house where I'm currently living.
I rarely see them and never hear them. Last week, I saw one going across the living room floor. The cat made short work of it. These are the fat, brown ones like people use for fish bait. I usually see them walking instead of jumping. Maybe they are too full of my clothes to jump!
I looked them up on the Net and this is what I've learned:
- Crickets are omnivorous.
- They will chew wet paper or fabric just to get the moisture from it.
- Crickets will eat dead bugs or other crickets.
- Crickets that eat holes in clothing will dine on anything from cotton to leather, including rayon, silk, and other fibers.
After reading the Ohio University Online site about various crickets, I believe what I have in my house are camel crickets, due to their brown appearance and hump back. They haven't been chirping - only quietly destroying my clothes. This means I've got to get some bug killer around my dresser, in my dresser drawers, and in any other places they might be lurking. They like living in damp areas, such as under logs and in crawl spaces under houses, so I'll need to check everything out carefully. One thing I can definitely do is rake all leaves far away from my house foundation to discourage them from hiding under them.
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bugsLabels: Science
And the living is easy
Friday morning, June 19, 2009
I awoke at my leisure this morning at around 8. It felt good to be able to sleep until I was rested instead of forcing myself awake at 3:30 AM to get ready for work.
The sun is shining and I'm sure it will be unbearably hot today outside, but I still welcome this weather. Last week at this time, we were facing severe storms that did a lot of damage and knocked out the power from Friday afternoon until Sunday night. Some folks' power wasn't restored until Monday.
In our part of the country, we joke that tornado season runs from January to December, and that's almost true! We had one on December 18 a few years ago that came within a few hundred yards of the house we were living in. Tornadoes are odd storms in that respect. It did no damage to our house but it knocked a double wide trailer off its foundation just up the hill from us and completely destroyed several homes in our neighborhood. One woman was killed.
Our water company brought cases of bottled water around to everyone on the system because the tornado made a crack in the water tower that serves us, thus causing potential contamination. The power was out for only a day, though, because we lived less than a mile from a substation that was damaged, and they were quick to get it repaired and running again. It reminded me a bit of rv camping with my family at the time, since we had our food in coolers and were cooking on a camp stove until it was all up and running again.
Today, though, is more of what one thinks as typical spring weather in the South - hot, humid, cicadas singing in the trees, and a slight, warm breeze. The sun is shining brightly in a blue, cloudless sky.
Last night, I listened contentedly to crickets, tree frogs, and whippoorwills as they combined in a summertime evening symphony that lulled me to sleep.
I love living in the country.
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tornadoLabels: Musings
Intensive gardening
I practice organic gardening and intensive gardening in my small vegetable plots. I have crowded my vegetables pretty close together and planted green onions in between many of them to allow for a nice spacing when the green onions are pulled for meals.
Intensive gardening allows your vegetables to crowd out weeds and grass, negates the need for a lot of roto-tilling or hoeing, and helps shade the earth your plants are growing in thus conserving moisture in the soil. Adding mulch or an earth-friendly ground cover adds further moisture protection for the soil while allowing water from the rain or your choice in watering systems to pass through to the plant roots.
The Purdue University Extension Service has written a very informative brochure (HO-124W) about intensive gardening. I've found a lot of helpful tips in it and I figure you will, too. In fact, you can find an amazing number of helpful publications at the Puirdue garden publications site!
As you and your children explore gardening, maybe for the first time, you'll find that even if you only use containers or small areas of your flower beds for a few summer vegetables, the whole family will enjoy the garden. Children will often eat vegetables they've grown themselves that they have declined in the past, so you may want to assign a small area to each child. Caring for plants and harvesting the produce gives a child (or anyone, for that matter) a huge sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. It also doesn't hurt that the food you grow yourself is more nutritious, healthful, and tastier than what you purchase at the grocery store, and you can reduce at least some of your spending.
Many intensive gardening articles recommend the use of a 10-10-10 fertilizer. It's totally up to you. My personal preference is to not use any chemical fertilizers, depend completely on rich compost to feed my gardens. I know this isn't always an option for families.
Labels: Homeschool families, Science
Water conservation
Summertime is a great time to teach children about conservation of water and other resources. A project I'll be starting soon will be a rain barrel to collect rainwater to be used for such things as watering the garden.
A rain barrel is good conservation in other ways, too. Collecting rainwater reduces the amount of sediment and water pollutants that would normally just run off into storm drains and ditches. It reduces the use of clean water from your community water system or your well, thus preserving some of the ground water.
Using a rain barrel for rainwater collection and use can reduce the amount of water you use from other sources by about 1,300 gallons during the summer months alone.
A rain barrel is inexpensive to construct and the payoff is enormous over its lifetime. You can find a great PDF document at the rain barrel project from Maryland and the South River Federation and the Center for Watershed Protection. Download the rain barrel project pdf and see for yourself how easy it can be!
Currently, my little house doesn't actually have gutters. However, since I'll be starting this project soon I'll be getting some gutters to attach to both the front and the back. I'll put in a downspout that is more amenable to the project, too. Most likely, I'll have two rain barrels - one for the front and one for the back. As I collect rainwater and use it, I'll let you know how the project is working out for me.
I'm currently on a well so this should reduce the amount of times a day the well pump runs, resulting in a saving of ground water and a saving of electrical power as well.
Labels: Homeschool families, Science
Spell Quizzer for free!
In the SpellQuizzer Software post, I told you about a sofware program that i think will be a great tool for any homeschool family or for any teacher or parent of children still in school. Now, I'd like to announce a giveaway for the software license.
The author has agreed to let me give away one free license for the software. The rules are pretty simple. Just subscribe to the Homeschool Zoo Annex feed, leave a comment with your name and email address, or send me an email at hszoo@yahoo.com with your name and email address. I'll put everyone's name and email in a basket and draw the winner's name on August 1, 2009.
The winner will receive the free license in time for the new school year!
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