July 17, 2011 10:21 p.m.

For Calvert School’s 3rd grade course, Sweet Girl has been assigned a research report on the history and geography of her local community.  It turns out that there are many resources available to her for this report.  Our little country hamlet is certainly proud of its history!   There are several webpages with the history of our community, there is a local history museum, and our county library has some well written books about the history of our county.  I have to admit, researching for this project has been interesting.

First we printed out some 11 articles from the internet, and Sweet Girl read them all, highlighting the most important details.  Then we made a visit to our local history museum and spoke to the docent there.  She was happy to learn that Sweet Girl would be writing a report, and she asked for a copy of the completed project for displaying in the museum.  We learned about a time capsule that was placed underground in front of the museum in the year 2000 – to be opened in the year 2025! 

Throughout the visit I took several photos of the museum.  Since the visit, Sweet Girl has written part of the first draft (the history part) and this week she will continue on with the geography part of the report.  Calvert provided guidelines to assist her in creating an outline plan of the report.  I can’t believe that Sweet Girl is actually doing a research report. 

Here are the pictures of our visit to the history museum.

First, we set the scene.  This is the front entrance of the museum.

Sweet Girl is taking notes (drawing pictures) after viewing a Union Army uniform from the Civil War.  Don’t ask me why there is a Union Army uniform and not a Confederate Uniform.  That’s a mystery on me.

This was a display of old toys from past residents of our area.

A genuine Edison phonograph – the kind that used wax cylinders.  A far cry from the modern MP3 file.

Sweet Girl writing on a slate typical of the old school house days.

There used to be a train line going through town about 70+ years ago.  Here is the original sign from the depot.  It is hard to believe there was once a train here.

Admiring some artifacts of a former woman’s lifestyle. 

Imagine a washing machine like this in your home!

Thinking about bread making in the old days….

….. and ironing, too.

This museum is pretty “hands on”.  I cannot remember what Sweet Girl was doing here.

Farming tools from “back in the day”.  There on the left is a taxidermy sand hill crane.  We have plenty of them here (live ones, that is), even now, especially at this time of the year.

Sweet Girl was especially interested in the old telephones.  She thought dial phones were pretty neat.  The black one on the extreme bottom, and the beige one on the right, were just like the phones in my house while I was growing up.  Sweet Girl could hardly believe that.

We stayed in this museum until we “closed down the place”.  It was a nice outing and it is not often that only the two of us go somewhere together by ourselves.  Now this week, as we approach lesson 110 in Calvert’s 3rd Grade Course, we will finish up this assignment.  And yes, we will bring a copy to the museum, too.  Sweet Girl will be proud of that!

February 27, 2011 3:41 p.m.


On Friday, I did something very untypical for me.  A friend suggested going strawberry picking, and it was a kind of spur-of-the-moment thing.  Well, I am not that much of a spur-of-the-moment kind of person, so I was surprised at myself for jumping at the opportunity.

I replied to my friend, and then I went into the school room and announced to my children that a surprise awaited them at midday if they could complete the majority of their lessons by around 11:30.


I never witnessed such incredible work efficiency as I did that morning!  It was a true “LOL” kind of moment!  Sweet Girl completed all her work, and Chips got everything done except Geography and a bit of Reading.  Considering all he had done, that was good enough for me.


So after eating lunch, we piled into the car, and I drove to the strawberry farm without saying where we were going or who we would be meeting.  It was a sort of “mystery car ride”.  They were pretty excited when we pulled into the driveway of the strawberry farm, and especially so when they saw which friends were already there!


I am so glad my friend got me to drop lessons for a few hours.  It truly was a beautiful afternoon to go strawberry picking.  But unfortunately for me, I forgot to bring my camera there.


I hate when I do that!


But I do have photos of the evidence from later on that evening.  These strawberries are tasty beauties!!  Are they ever.

November 16, 2010 9:55 p.m.

Yes, by the way, be sure to …

…take time out

…to read some poetry

to your mommy.

 Friday, September 3, 2010 8:05 a.m.

What do you do to fill the time in the van when driving 6000 miles with children?

Here is our arsenal of activities:

1. String Games

2. Yahtzee

3. Dutch Blitz, UNO and Mille Bornes (for the campsite).

4. Magnetic games and a checker set.

5. Kids' books: Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, for sure.  Family Fun's Games on the Go. Mad Libs.

6. A separate journal binder for each child to record what happened each day.  Complete with a pouch with colored pencils, pens, markers, pencil sharpener.

7. Mommy will keep up her read alouds.  I am finishing up The Witch's Brat by Rosemary Sutcliff (this book was a kind gift from Linda, my bloggy friend in Scotland.  You can check out her beautiful blog, Occasional Scotland,  here).

8. Other books we hope to read are: The Master Puppeteer by Katherine Paterson;  The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford; How God Sent a Dog to Save a Family by Joel Beeke.

9. We will continue our learning of the Westminster Catechism while riding in the van, using Training Hearts, Teaching Minds, by Starr Meade.  And of course, the Bible.

10.  There will be books for me to read silently to myself.  They are The Red Tent by Anita Diamant; Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges; and Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal, by T. David Gordon.

11. And then, of course, there is the Sirius Radio receiver full of commercial-free music.  I guess I'm cheating - that's electronic!

You know, I just feel that much more secure when we have plenty of good books to read, you know what I mean?

July 31, 2010 10:18 a.m.

Yup.  That's us all the way.

As you know, life in the 21st century calls for an endless supply of batteries, especially AA and AAA batteries.  At our home, we charge our kids 25 cents a battery (or about half of what we had to pay for them).  In this way, they are more careful about turning off things to conserve battery power, about using the rechargeables, and waiting for them to recharge again before using the device (instead of just putting in four fresh new batteries in the meantime).  Batteries are a controlled commodity in our house.

Recently, Chips has gotten into the hobby of collecting and rehabilitating digital watches.  He gets them mostly from thrift stores for a couple of dollars each, although he is currently saving money to buy a special new one.  All of these watches consume batteries, and these batteries are expensive.  But since the cheapskate parents haven't been ponying up for new batteries, he has had to be resourceful about watch batteries.  This has caused Chips to be on the lookout for potential batteries around the house.  He has removed batteries from old Happy Meal toys.  He has removed batteries from old musical greeting cards.  When he is interested in wearing one watch, he will steal the battery from another for the day.  As a result, for months he has never needed to purchase a new watch battery.

Chips is learning ways to be economical and resourceful, all because we are too cheap to supply him with free batteries.  It certainly makes toys that don't require batteries more attractive.  He says it is "fun" to find new ways to power up his watches.  I say it is a good thing, too.

June 8, 2010 9:50 p.m.

I just quit my Facebook account.  Or to use the proper term, I deactivated it.  For awhile I have had the gnawing feeling that I need to disengage from my virtual world somewhat.  Then I read this article in the NY Times yesterday and I found I could relate somewhat.  No, I am not nearly as bad off as some of the folks used as examples in this article, but I have been feeling the mental effects of too much "virtual" in my life.  It was time I curtailed it some.

Not to mention the fact that Facebook has had a deleterious effect on the content of this blog.  Oh horrors!   I had gotten used to writing up life in little snippets of under 200 characters or so.  My writing had lost much all of its reflective quality.

Oh, and not to mention that I have been feeling uncomfortable with the parallel nature of my mental life.  I don't want to think and do things in parallel anymore, or at least I want to minimize it (some is unavoidable when you're a Mommy.)   I want to become sequential again.  In fact, it has been getting more difficult for me to concentrate on tasks that are sequential, and I have had to go out of my way to pause and think about what I am doing as a step-by-step process so that I can stay focused.  I thought it was due to aging.  Maybe yes, but after reading this article, I see it is also possible that my virtual life has had something to do with it.

I can totally relate to the experience (cited in the article) of interrupting my own absorbing, important, and often urgent task because I caught a headline out of the corner of my eye such as "Man Found Dead inside His Business" and I had to stop what I was doing and check it out.  It is getting more difficult to filter out the unimportant and irrelevant.  Scary.

Have any of you ever tried to deactivate a Facebook account?  First of all, when you try to do it, you are given a guilt trip: large photos of six of your Facebook friends telling you that they will "miss you".  HA HA HA!  That's funny!  Then you are asked to give a reason why you are deactivating your account.  When you select a reason, it quickly flashes a suggestion as to how to improve your Facebook experience so that this reason is no longer a problem to you.  Again, HA HA HA!  It also reminds you that your Facebook lifestyle eternally awaits; all you have to do is say your email address and password, and Abracadabra, your account and all your Facebook friends can be restored at any time.  Whenever you come to your senses and decide to return.  This is too much, my friends.

Facebook.  You can check out anytime.  But you can never leave.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 10:17 a.m.

We here at our home strive to make our lives as commercial-free as possible.  Our modern environment is saturated with advertising, and we try to make our home and lives as safe a haven as possible, including minimizing the amount of advertising to which we are exposed.  Not simply for our children's well being, but also for our own.  Few things arouse a spirit of discontentment for Self-Reliant Man and me more than advertising.

Now I do enjoy listening to music, usually in the car, but over the years our options for doing so have narrowed.  I have been very unsatisfied with broadcast radio, and I am not in the habit, anymore, of shopping for recorded music.  Whereas at one time, about ten or so years ago, I spent a lot of time and attention acquiring music CDs, I am no longer interested in doing so.  I have relied on the radio, and been unhappy with it, so there has been a dearth of recorded music in my life.  Strange, for a family that spends so much time learning how to play string instruments.

In the last year, our local public radio station has stopped broadcasting classical music due to lack of listener support. The major city near us is not exactly a Mecca for the fine arts, I am sorry to say. So, no more classical music, except for a few well worn, tiresome CDs that I play in the car. The local contemporary Christian radio station seems to have a playlist of about 20 songs, and when an especially good one is released, it is played to death. So I can't stomach that anymore. For awhile, I got excited about a new radio station in town that plays music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. So I would put that on (or Sweet Girl would request it) and that was fine for about a month. Then I found some of the advertising so offensive that I had to stay alert to quickly change stations. Well, this happened twice, maybe, and then I was sick of it and shut it off.

As Chips would say: "Blah!"

But this post does have a happy ending, I promise. While Self-Reliant Man had his car in the body shop for two weeks (due to his encounter with a garbage truck) we were loaned a rental car that had satellite radio. What a blessed discovery this was for me!!! 100% Commercial Free digital music stations of all kinds: pop, country, classical, jazz, Christian, world music and a station for many various sub-categories of musical styles. Plus all kinds of news, weather, and talk stations.

So this week, Self-Reliant Man announced to me that he is going to install a Sirius/XM radio in my car as well as purchase a free-standing portable radio for listening inside the house and in our yard. So I am happy as a lark. I can now hear all the music I haven't heard in years -- including music I remember from when I was age 7 or under, sitting in the back seat of the car when my mother was driving, nostalgic music for me, as well as classical music 24/7. I especially appreciate the display that identifies the name of the piece and the artist. Very nice. So although there are about 120 stations to listen to, we will be picking the Sirius "A la Carte" option whereby you select 50 stations that you particularly want (and there are many that I don't!) and pay $7 a month.

So that is my latest way to de-commercialize our lives; money well spent, I think.

November 11, 2:58 p.m.

I have wanted to post for several days, but believe it or not, there have been more important things in my life to do than blog. Hard to believe, I know.

In the past month, I have learned of three people I know who have been diagnosed with cancer. One of these is a friend and homeschool mother of six children who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is only forty years old. She recently moved out of state, too.

So I have been spending some time this week writing letters to some of these folks or their family members. Please keep them in prayer.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Other than that, we did return from our camping trip this Sunday, and it was an especially memorable trip for one reason that will be covered later in this post. The weather was exceptionally gorgeous throughout the trip, and we were thankful for that.

The name of the state park this time was Silver River State Park, near Ocala, in our great state. I have to say that when they designed and laid out this campground, they really did it right. It is a newer campground, and very popular, which is why we hadn't made it there sooner. The campsites are wooded, spacious, and private! There is plenty of distance between sites, which I love. The facilities are newer and well-kept, with convenient laundry and outdoor sink, that made life much easier for us van folks. This campground has perhaps dislodged Anastasia State Park from first place in our list of state campgrounds.

Every time we head to a new place, I always wonder... are there enough activities there? Will the children enjoy this park? Will anybody be bored? I honestly don't know why I still wonder about this, because they always find something to pretend about when they get there.





Matchbox cars and gravel always make for several periods of uninterrupted campsite play, as the children always make a new network of "roads" wherever we camp.





Other diversions included:




the snapping turtle that the children befriended for two days.







Then there were the chickens that the children discovered at the Cracker village museum.















Although fishing was not allowed at this park, that did not stop Baby Girl and Little Son from making their own "cane poles" out of sticks and pine needles (fishing line). They used these poles to "entertain" the snapping turtle with bits of bread.














Baby Girl was always keeper of the "Feed the Fire Store", selling us from her stash of firewood and tinder. Friday, she announced, was "Free Friday" so we snatched up all the merchandise we could while it lasted.









The children found a clearing in the woods behind our campsite, which they dubbed their "Exploring Office". Baby Girl wanted to make sure that I got a photo of the all important Exploring Office into the blog. So here it is.













And lest you think that camping is all play and no work for our children, never fear. They do have their campsite responsibilities, besides helping to pack and unpack. Baby Girl often has table-setting duties to tend to.














Little Son chipped in with some of the less challenging cooking tasks.















Self-Reliant Man is always the champion burger flipper.














One thing that we can do really well while camping is EAT!














One favorite evening snack continues to be Jiffy Pop...













... but hot cocoa, pound cake, and cookies filled in those spare idle moments around the campfire very well. As did "read alouds" by Yours Truly. Right now, we are reading Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze ~~ a very entertaining campfire read!















And before I forget, we continued to hike whenever we could. The first hike we took was the River Trail, where we obtained a lovely view of the pristine Silver River.














The next day we attempted to hike one of the other many trails: the Swamp Trail, which would provide another fine view of the river, and some baby snapping turtles to observe. We really wanted to complete this trail...








but....




about a hundred yards or so down this trail, we were moving along at a good pace, Baby Girl in the lead, but thankfully within grabbing distance of Breezy Point Mom (that's me). Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I noticed, lying in a straight line alongside the left edge of the trail, a five foot long Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake! The most dangerous rattlesnake in North America. This was a fat one, too, with approximately three inch diameter around the middle. At once, I yelled, "Oh my God, a Diamondback" and reached out for Baby Girl, who hadn't noticed it. When she saw the creature, she panicked and ran to me (mommy!!!) and I turned to Self-Reliant Man, who said "Run!" and the four of us darted back to the beginning of the trail, hearts beating a mile a minute. Self-Reliant Man got the best look at this snake, and reported that he had noticed the rattler, and that the snake had turned its head to see us off as we ran away.

Sorry, I did NOT take up my camera to get a shot for the blog, important as the blog is and all. Actually, the idea didn't enter my mind at that moment, not that it would have made a difference. So the above snake picture is just one I pulled from elsewhere.

The photo above of the children by the trail sign was taken only about two minutes before the snake sighting. How naive and innocent that moment was. Wait ~~ isn't that something slipping through the leaves in the distance behind the kids?? Yikes!

We reported our sighting to park personnel, and to other visitors we saw approaching that trail, and any families we noted with young children.

We learned anew why it is important not to let your little ones get far ahead of you on the trail. Baby Girl had developed a habit of running out far ahead of us, with us unable to keep up with her at times. I don't think she will be doing this again any time soon.

And yes, we did go back a little later and hike.... the River Trail again. Don't know if we will ever brave the Swamp Trail now.

Nevertheless.............

We love camping!

And we can't wait to do it again.

I am so looking forward to camping this season. Just two more months until the weather moderates here. Although you wouldn't know it today and yesterday. In fact, as I write, the local temperature is still just 79 degrees. It has been uncommonly cool here in our state these days, mainly because it has been overcast with showers. What a difference - we have barely used the air conditioning.

But I digress. Like I said, I can't wait to go camping again. About three years ago, we ventured into the world of camping. Now those who know us will agree that my DH and I have had plenty of hare-brained ideas over the past three years. Camping was another such idea, another instance of redefining our family identity. Once we had blown $37.50 on a family tent, and splurged on those $20 sleeping bags and $60 Thermorest mattresses, there was no turning back. No sirree, not this family.

I love the cool season, and I love submerging into it by spending all our time outside while camping. I love putting out the checkered tablecloth on the picnic table, and giving the campsite that feminine touch of home. I love mixing up that first cooler full of Gatorade.

I love how hungry I get while camping, and how delicious all that comfort food tastes when we have grilled it, griddled it, or boiled it. It is fun to talk about the raccoon that sneaks a peak at us eating from behind a tree trunk, and the rustling sound it makes when it doesn't think we're paying attention.

I love listening to the children giggle as they play with small cars in the sand, or toss a ball around the campsite, or snap glow sticks aglow and wave them around.

I love when it is beginning to get dark, and the sounds change in the woods. More crickets, more snapping of twigs, an occasional hoot owl in the dark. I love to crunch my way along a shadowy path with my DD on the way to the restroom, playing with flashlights along the way.

I love sitting around a campfire after dark, with the Coleman lantern dividing our territory from the vacant black night. I love reading to the family, while they throw leaves into the fire, or nosh on popcorn or smores. I love sticking a cup of cocoa or coffee into the cupholder of my folding chair, and zipping my fleece jacket up higher around my neck. I love covering my ears with a wool cap, even when it isn't that cold yet.

I love walking around the campground, and checking out all the other campers. I love seeing how they make their fun. Some bring their portable TV sets, others kick up in an easy chair inside their RVs, and all we can see is the glow from behind their blinds. Some opt for simpler pleasures, just getting together with old friends, and their sites are filled with laughter and playing cards.

Some sit outside in loungers, playing Sudoku, filling out the Jumble, and just content to be outside in the chair next to their loved one, waving to the occasional passer-by. Campers are definitely friendlier than the average person. I love to see the decked out campsites, complete with Tiki torches, or Christmas lights, or glowing chili peppers. And then there are the gourmet campers, who grill seafood, steaks and ribs, complete with all manner of fresh veggies and a bottle of wine.

And then there's us, with our burgers and beans, our griddle cakes and eggs, cold cereal, bagels, baked potatoes, and cheese steak sandwiches. Oh well, to each his own.

I love when we are all zipped up in the tent to go to sleep. All four of us in a row. DH and DS sleep so comfortably in their sleeping bags. DD and I are sleeping bag rebels. DD lies on top of her bag, and I have long since rejected a sleeping bag, in favor of an air mattress, flannel linens, and a blanket on top. I need to stretch and spread out when I sleep on my stomach, arms and legs extended in various directions. I like the little night light we hang from the peak of our tent. We talk a few minutes, and laugh at the moving shadows against the side of our tent from nearby campers. My kids are fortunately still at the age when they enjoy everything.
I don't love so much the continuous zipping sound of the front door zipper at 1:30 a.m. when the guys have gotten up to go to the men's room together. Why can't they ever keep 'till the morning? And why is it so hard to fall back asleep afterwards?
I especially love waking up at the earliest light of dawn, hearing the first twittering birds, and sneaking out of the tent before the family to heat up water for coffee and cocoa. I love strolling around the quiet campground before others have waken and enjoying the misty morning peacefulness. Breakfast never tasted so good.

I love family bicycling along trails, and gentle hikes. Trying to fish off a dock. Exploring. Beachcombing. Admiring the mountain views. I am so thankful for the simple pleasures that camping brings to us. And thankful that we have found so many wonderful camping spots, with the promise of more to discover this year.

So I can't want, and I count the weeks until camping season begins again. It isn't far away now.

Now if we could just convince some of our friends to try it out with us!

I saw the symptoms before affluenza became a known buzzword. Before I was a mom myself. I saw kids who were never satisfied, and the older they got, the bigger the thrills they needed. I spoke to a dad of a 3 year old in my neighborhood who said to me one day "If you think it is hard to keep them happy when they are babies, just wait. It gets really hard when they're three!" Hmmm. I tucked that comment in my brain for pondering. We live near the world's biggest tourist attraction. I mean 42 square miles of ultimate entertainment -- the biggest mouse-related theme park and vacation kingdom there is. I knew kids in my neighborhood who, at age 10 or 12, had gotten bored with going there. Didn't want to "do D*SN*Y" anymore. Boring.

This is insane!! What is going on here? I have since learned it is called affluenza. A disease that is bred by the affluence we enjoy here in our country. We have the resources, so lets give all we've got to the kids. For better or for worse. So I thought about what effect this overstimulation of kids with entertainment and activities would have on them. It bothered me so much, that at some point when my oldest was still a toddler, I saw the handwriting on the wall, so to speak, and decided to change our path. My dh understood the problem immediately, and he was on board as well.

Since then, we have made a deliberate decision not to overstimulate our kids. Keep life simple and natural. Toys we chose were simpler, we tried to avoid logos and name brands, we shyed away from characters of all sorts (which are just ways of getting kids to recognize a brand at an early age). We stopped watching TV, and therefore, TV commercials. We tried to eliminate every aspect of commercialism that we could from our home. We minimized electronic toys and gadgets, for ourselves as well as the kids. We dish out computer game time in very sparing doses.

Now the kids don't know what they are supposed to want for Christmas. They just know what they like.

We heard of a family that gave their kids three gifts per child for Christmas. After all, Jesus himeself received three gifts. We did this each Christmas, and found that they still ended up with too much stuff. (this past Christmas, we loosened this rule to allow for stocking items and educational items as extras. Since we don't buy them gifts all year round, except birthday and Christmas, we find we need to stock up a bit on those educational items).

I know. By now you think we are very odd. Just keep reading. Horror of horrors -- we never take the children to any of the world famous theme parks that we are "privileged" to live nearby. We tried it once, when my oldest was 4. He couldn't handle the stimulation, and had repeated meltdowns in the park. We decided we wouldn't do it again for years to come, and we haven't.

Theme parks are like Fr*tos or L*y's Potato Chips to a child's sensibilities. Once they get a couple of experiences of them, it grays out all other more subtle life experiences. Especially when you live right near those theme parks. No other place quite measures up. We want to avoid that. There is plenty of time for them, when they are older.

We approach every event, every vacation trip, from the point of view of how much it could overstimulate our children. Because when you overstimulate, and overstimulate, and overstimulate, pretty soon it takes more, and more, and more to provide the same thrill anymore. Life itself gets duller and duller. We human beings are made that way.

We talk to the kids about being wise consumers, and avoiding the pitfalls that advertising set up. Recognizing a gimmick when you see one. Does this toy really look like it did on the cover of the box? Isn't it just a bunch of little plastic pieces and stickers to put on? Where does the fun come from? YOU! You can make your own fun.

I hear parents comment often in amazement about how their youngest children were alway initially more enthralled with the box than they were with the toy the box contained. We parents (and grandparents) are the ones who teach them to crave the toys. This doesn't have to be. They really can make their own fun, and should be required to, now and them. It is so good for them to be understimulated more. This is the classic case of less is better.

So, we remain low key in every area of the children's lives. Lives as commercial free as possible. As a result, they really do know how to make their own fun. They have a blast playing with blankets hanging over things. Exploring nature in our yard. Pretending together for hours. We read so many family read aloud books, so they have the ideas they need to create pretend play. Now that the door of reading is being unlocked to our younger child, I have caught them in the same room both reading their own books. It is a very rare time when they report that they are bored. Maybe once every couple of months.

Vacations are getting simpler and more frequent. We have stopped the nice hotels, and integrated camping into our lives. It took some getting used to, and we had to build up some new planning, packing and camping skills, but now we really love it. Vacation destinations are nature-based now. Mountains, scenery, state parks. The kids love it because they love nature.

Did I mention that my kids almost never have nightmares? (if I could just say the same about nosebleeds!)

Now, if you can find a down side, it is this. My kids are very sensitive to stimulation. Sometimes, we are watching a DVD, and if the movie is less than, say, 20 or 25 years old, it can be very stimulating. The scene changes at a frenetic pace, the action is non-stop, and it is difficult to always know what is happening. My kids, especially the 5 year old, don't care for this. My youngest has had a couple of nightmares in her life, and they have always (always!) occurred after a movie that I later regretted letting them watch. Yes, these are G-rated movies. They are just very stimulating, because folks demand that nowadays.

Tonight, we are going to do something that is unusual for us. My husband's work group has provided a fun night out. There will be S*nny's Bar-B-Q served for supper(yum!) and then a minor league baseball game, topped off with fireworks. We've never done anything like this before. We are looking forward to it, because it is such a rare experience, a big deal for our family. I'll post about how it goes.

It is deep in the heart of summer, and temperatures are the highest they will get all year. Our porch had been neglected for awhile, but we are rediscovering its pleasant atmosphere, even during the dog days of summer. Our schedules are lighter, and there is more time to just sit and enjoy on those weekends that the grass doesn't have to be cut.

So lately, we have been making good use of our porch rockers. When other moms come for a visit, we chat on the porch rockers and keep an eye on the kids at play around the yard. I have been enjoying having my quiet times on the porch again, rather than indoors. Sitting on the front porch makes me feel more vivacious (caffeine just wasn't cutting it anymore..)

At first, when sitting out there in the morning, the air is close and humid and still. But after awhile, as the sunrise has its effect on the atmosphere, breezes begin to stir and cool and dry out the air and it feels great. And now my son has agreed to come out and do our morning scripture reading and discussion on the porch, instead of in the house. It makes us sit up, and be wide awake and alert and mentally and spiritually aware.

Just this Saturday, the guys (dh and ds) did some tractor repair work in the barn. They were there for awhile, and my daughter and I decided to spend the time playing Go Fish and Old Maid on the porch rockers. It was really nice, and the cool post-rainstorm air felt so relaxing. Later on, my son joined in on the card playing with her.

I enjoyed watching them have fun together. . . right on our front porch. I am thankful for a simple Saturday afternoon such as this was.

Well, despite all my best intentions, this family is becoming more "green" than ever. Maybe we are being caught up in the hype (I doubt it!) but more likely we are shocked by the high cost of fuel and the promise of higher energy costs. We learned that our electric utility is going to raise rates 16%. My philosophy on this is that I am happy to be "green", just so long as it doesn't cost me any more money. I am much more motivated by saving money. As far as carbon footprint goes --- well, lets say that after reading some books on the subject, I am NOT a big believer in human-induced global warming.

So.... we have actually begun to cut back on our energy use. We got an electric bill yesterday that showed that we have consumed 401 fewer kilowatthours than the same month last year. And this year is definitely hotter. That translates to about a $45 savings. Our electric bill for the past month was $138. (where we live, everything runs on electricity)

Here is what we have been doing:

1. Driving a lot less. We no longer take those casual one destination drives to the library, supermarket, bank, or store. We wait until we are already scheduled to go out for something else, and then add on these stops along the way.

2. While we are not really "hypermiling", we try to drive economically, by coasting more to stop lights, reducing our maximum speed, and driving like there is an egg on our accelerator pedal. It has helped to eek out a few more mpg out of our Hyundai, Mitsubishi, and Freightliner. (I'll explain the Freightliner in another post some time). They just reported that fuel consumption dropped by a whopping 1.8 percent in April. I believe that if the country goes back to 55 mph speed limit on the highways, we as a nation would dramatically decrease our fuel consumption overnight!

3. Home air conditioner use. We have two central a/c units -- the living area, and the bedrooms. We leave the bedroom unit off all day and night, only running it full blast for two hours before bedtime. This works fine, as long as we run the ceiling fan over our bed the rest of the night. If my son needs to do school work in the bedroom area, he asks for a/c, and that's fine, as long as he turns it off after finishing his work. My daughter, who at age 5 still needs some daytime naps, doesn't even miss the a/c.

4. The living area a/c is set to 82 degrees, and is on all day long, with ceiling fans to help. This has been fine, but our chocolate lab did complain some. He thinks we're nuts. I trimmed his fur a little. Hopefully he will get used to it soon. He is very spoiled about a/c. At night, we shut the a/c off to the living area, where he lives, and leave a ceiling fan on for him.

5. Our house has two hot water heaters. One for the bathrooms, and one for the kitchen/laundry. The kitchen/laundry is on a solar heater, and this provides 100% of its demand during the summer. In the coldest months of winter, we have to close that circuit breaker, but the rest of the year it is open.

6. Using a clothesline. This is one area I could improve. I run our dryer too much, and it is a big consumer of electricity. I hung out the laundry during the cool dry season, but haven't been during the hot humid (rainy) season. I am not sure how much$$ this saves, but I might try to do it some more this summer.

7. Swimming pool pump - can't cut back too much here, but we run it 12 hours a day, which is a slight reduction over last year.

8. My husband says I should turn off our desktop computer and CRT monitor overnight. It does pump out some heat. I am afraid that will lessen the life span of the computer. Anybody have any thoughts on this one? We already have the CRT shutting down after a short time.

So, that is how we are reducing our carbon footprint. It is amazing how one can get used to the 82 degrees thermostat setting. My husband recently returned from a business trip in Mexico. He said that the engineers in that office are really accustomed to higher temperature setpoints. They felt cold when the temperature was set below 80. When we were in Vietnam, it was the same. A/C was used very sparingly. I think we Americans are so accustomed to cheap energy that we overdo it. Get real. Many restaurants and public places can be freezing! If they would just raise their thermostats a little bit, look at how much energy could be saved. Okay - I will get off my soapbox now.

Have a nice day!