The nitty gritty

just wanted to quickly post some #'s. Had to buy chicken grit on Sunday at $2.70. Last had to buy it on Martin Luther King day, Jan. 19th. That means one box lasted pretty much exactly 5 weeks. Breakdown - $0.54 per week. Pretty sure I can get it cheaper somewhere else, or just use beach sand since there's plenty of that around here. Or maybe they don't even need it since they are out free ranging a good part of the day... We mostly have clay here, though - not too much gritty stuff. I need to look into that.

turning up the heat

The super sexy eco-box

We are gleefully marching forward in our quest for greenification. Our mission: to provide heat to our house in an eco-minded manner. Since last winter we had been heating our blustery San Diego nights with an oh-not-so-friendly 1600 watt electric heater. Umm, two of them, actually. Needless to say, our electric bill skyrockets during the late November to early March timeframe in which the nights in San Diego MUST be supplemented with some sort of heat source. Our average kw usage during the summer months is somewhere between 155 and 180 per month. During the cold months it jumps to between 220 and 475 (Jan. '08!!)

In order to conserve kilowatts (and consequently, dollars from SDG&E) we did some research on heat. One option that we quickly ruled out was central heat. For our 800 sq. ft. mansion, it just wasn't a pracitcal investment. We also realized that we would prefer something electric rather than gas with hopes that one day soon we will be able to purchase some solar panels and be more fully self sustaining.

The installed product

Our friend Stuart had this cool Eco-Heater in his daughters room that he really liked so we decided to look into those. A chic, flat-panel, super energy efficient heating element from South Africa that is the epitomy of eco-cool. At only 400 watts a pop, what have we got to lose? I found this deal where we could get a 4 pack for a discount. The total cost for our entire house is $440, a fraction of the price of a central heating system. And the kids were occupied all night and all day today with their free toy... I'll let you know how the kw usage pans out!

The unbelievably cool free toy

never say never

A scenario presented itself to us last night that was supposed to be one of the toughest we'd have to deal with. All of the factors adding up to an almost-perfect storm. First, we did not have the car and we didn't have access to it because it was in use by our car-share buddies. Second, Estelle was sick. Third, it wasn't an ambulance-calling emergency, but she really needed to go to the doctor at some point. I called urgent care and they advised bringing her in, so I made the appointment for the 8:00 pm time slot that they had available. What were my options? Hop the bus with a sick kid at night and not come home until way late? Alison and Eddie, our neighbors who are supposed to be our backup people, were gone. As I was trying to figure out an alternative, it occured to me that both of our carseats were in the shared car. Damn.

As luck would have it, we are surrounded by a wonderful community of people that we are blessed enough to call friends. Other neighbors of ours, Heather and Chris, were just coming back into town from a long weekend. I was keeping an eye on a couple of things for them, so I had a key to their house. A phone call to them was all it took to secure one of their spare cars, and I had forgotten about an extra old car seat still gathering dust in the garage. Wonderful oh wonderful Jeremy gave up his evening to take Estelle to the Dr. Offical diagnosis - secondary ear infection. The joys of parenting.

This experience taught me, I think, that we should put our fears about this to the side. This was almost the worst of the worst that could happen being without a car 100% of the time, and it was no big deal. If it were truly an emergency, and ambulance would be the only way to go, regardless if we had a car or not. In every other case, I can't think of any time where we wouldn't be able to make it work thanks to loving friends, family and neighbors. We couldn't do it without them!

Bad, bad carless people!

Our kids giving "our new car" some love

This was officially our first week without our car, and we did not do a very good job of driving less. When I called Sarah to tell her that our car was gone, she laughed and said it was perfect because they had a retreat from Monday through Wednesday anyway, so we could have the car. We already had plans to use it on Sunday because that was our Valentines date night. Here is a log of our mileage for the week:

Sunday: Drop kids off @ J's parents, go to Burger Lounge, Barnes & Noble, back home. 31 miles

Monday: Get bagels, go to wholefoods, pick up kids @ j's parents. 19 miles.

Monday afternoon: gym, blockbuster. 3.5 miles

Tuesday: J. drove to work in Alpine and back. Carpooled with Jason. 46 miles.

Tuesday night: gym. 3 miles.

Wednesday: Bank, Costco. 9 miles

Thursday: no driving

Friday: picked up car from Sarah, came home. Went back to Carter's house because I forgot to drop off something. Went to Hillcrest to pick up an ipod from craigslist. 21.5 miles

Friday night: gym, Redlands. 127 miles, due to detour.

Saturday: Wedding, back to parents, bakers, back home. 149 miles.

Sunday: to church, back. 3.4 miles.

We totalled 412.4 miles for the week. Only 46 of this was legitimate carpooling miles. Horrible! The only thing I can say is that it was really rainy in the beginning of the week so I am grateful we had the car. Also, we were all sick all week, so it was good to be able to drive instead of making the kids be sick on a long walk in the rainy/cold weather. We really need to do better than this, though! I think that when there is a car parked in our driveway it is just TOO EASY to hop in it and drive to our destination rather than figure out an alternative. Yesterday we had the car all day, though, and walked to the grocery store and then Jeremy biked to drop off our videos at Blockbuster. We really just need to get into the mindset of being more "green" rather than doing what's convenient.

I'll post again at the end of the week with our mileage for this week! Hopefully it will be way less than 400 miles!

Sarah and her friend showing off one of our girls

Stay Classy, San Diego.

Ah, Jeremy, you have no idea the classiness of that missing hubcap. Three hubcaps is the new four, didn't you know?

Our neighbors did trade down, folks. Gone is the higher clearance, gone the matching set of spinners, gone the shine of the paint job. In it's place, they've gotten a scratched bumper, a very dirty set of floormats... one of those may be missing too?... and about 50,000 more miles.

... however... maybe it gets better gas mileage? at least a few miles? one can only hope.

To prove how classic the car actually is, here are a few of my favorite pictures from our wedding. What could be more romantic driving away from your wedding, in front of most of your friends and family (a certain four sadly missing) in this sexy vehicle?

Manhoodification

My first truck had 30 inch tires. It was a black Jeep Commanche. It was love at first sight, at least for a 16 year old. My identity was interwoven with the tires, the bumper stickers and the bucket seats. I had various trucks from the time I was 16 until the ripe old age of 30. I lived in the campershell, explored Baja, hauled lumber, and carried friends to protests across desert landscapes. Then came kids. Camille at One sitting in the front seat of my beat up Nissan truck seemed, well, impracticle. So Kim and I eventually bought our first New Ride. It was a shiny black CRV half truck and half sedan. It was a mini SUV with better gas mileage. It had clearance for Baja surf trips and Borrego camping trips. It was a perfect compromise between manhood and pragmitism. It wasn't a mini van. It wasn't a gas guzzling SUV. It was perfect...

Well, until we logged 100,000 miles in 4 and a half years. Some environmentalists. When we sold our CRV I was at home, sick and alone with Camille and Estelle and a potential buyer from Rancho Bernardo, buying his daughter her first vehicle. Keeping the vehicular identity complex syndrome alive and well for the next generation. He was there for 2 and half hours and began showing obvious signs and symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Well, he bought our CRV and our girls said their goodbyes by kissing and hugging their car. The nice family waved as they drove away with our families memories stitched and soiled into the upholestry.

We stared at our empty drive way. Small beads of sweat mixed with panic, excitement, fear and emptiness began to appear like rain drops on my skin. It was time.

We grabbed a soccer ball and played a round in our empty new concrete soccer field. The next day our fabulous friends Sarah and BJ drove over our new experimental "shared" vehicle. It was a white sedan missing a hub cap with a Woman for Obama sticker pasted on the window. My manhoodification was exposed. Sarah's empathetic radar came to the rescue as she proceeded to gently peel off the Women for Obama sticker - what a friend. Not that I don't like Obama. Who knows he probably has suffered from vehicular identity complex syndrome as well.

I love our new shared car. I love that it stands for everything I believe in. I love that it has everything to do with our "new identity". I love that it is crappier and less manhoodified. I love that it is a functional vehicle that is an experiement in communal living and environmental awareness. I love that people are telling us that it won't work. (They said that about our family owning 1 car for the last 5 years). I love that it will be a challenge. I love that this concept might spread through churches, synagogues, ghettoes, suburbs, colleges, high schools and neighborhoods across America and beyond. Go ahead. Try something new. You can start by sharing your soccerball and oranges with your neighbors. Keep the momentum.

Officially Car-less

Yup, that's right! We are officially one car less in this part of town. Here is a copy of the ad that sold our beloved CR-V on Craigslist:

"2004 excellent condition, 100,000 miles. Everything works. Tinted windows, ac, cd, cassette, Thule roof racks. No problems at all, it's been a great car for us. Please e-mail with questions or to come and check it out. KBB lists at $8700+. We have all the records and are original owners, clean record. Just got it's 100,000 mile check-up and did the alignment. Make an offer. EX series, 2 wheel drive."

It is definitely a bittersweet goodbye to a car that has been wonderful to our family. It was the first car for both of our children, we purchased it very soon after C. was born. It was an experiment for us at the time, because we officially went from a standard two-car family down to a one car family with the purchase of that car. I suppose it is fitting then, that it is the car that carries us into this car-share experiment. One almost needs to remind ones self at the end of it all that it is still only a car and is something completely material and replaceable.

So, we had 100,500 or so miles on that car when we sold it yesterday. We owned it for 52 months, which means that we logged almost 2,000 miles on the darn thing EVERY MONTH! This is what we are trying to break away from, to utilize public transport in such a way that although we may still log that many miles in a month, it will be in a much more eco-minded way. Jeremy will still drive our shared car one day a week to work (but it won't be a solo trip - he's got his carpool all set up) and we will have to use it to get up to his parents house on Mt. Helix because for some reason that place is completely unreachable by public transit. Other than that, we'll see where the bus and our legs can take us. I am so excited and ready for the journey!

Worm Farms and Rain

Who knew, two essential things for a healthy garden don't mix that well. At least, not when a good winter storm floods your artificial worm raising habitat/compost bin. My wife Sarah and I began vermicomposting (raising worms) this summer because we thought it would be a good way to reduce the amount of trash we put in San Diego's landfill and create some good soil for our garden. Little did we know how much we didn't actually know about worms.

First off, you can't just dig some up and throw them in your compost bin. Your average Earthworm from the ground reproduces slowly and doesn't eat a lot. You need red worms, a special type that are found around stables because of their affinity to horse poop. They eat a lot (necessary if you are a composting zealot) and reproduce quickly and abundantly. Which would lead one to believe that worms like it hot, they don't. We killed a fair share because our bin was in too much sun and had to start over.

Second, worms like it moist. Too little, and you get the worm on the sidewalk effect after a hot summers day. Too much, and you get what just happened to me. Contrary to the popular belief brought on by fishing, worms do not breath underwater. They will die.

After these subtle nuances are achieved you can expect your trash to compost at 3x the rate of a normal bin with the added bonus of worm castings (worm poop) in your final product. If you are just starting the art of compost, don't go get worms right away. These little guys don't actually eat your trash, but the microbial muck that forms when it starts to decompose, so get the compost going first or there will be nothing for them to eat, resulting in a yet another way to cause massive worm die-off.

You can get these worms at City Farmers Nursery in City Heights in a ready to go 3 lb. bag, or fill up a chinese takeout box full of worms in the back for $2 a pop. Or you can come over to our house and we will fill you up a tupperware for free (you must provide your own tupperware though).