Posted on 07/24/2009 3:37:21 AM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition Category: Roundups | Comments(15)
Did you hear about the guy that lives on nothing? No seriously, he lives on zero dollars a day. Meet Daniel Suelo, who lives in a cave outside Moab, Utah. Suelo has no mortgage, no car payment, no debt of any kind. He also has no home, no car, no television, and absolutely no “creature comforts.” But he does have a lot of creatures, as in the mice and bugs that scurry about the cave floor he’s called home for the last three years.
To us, Suelo probably sounds a little extreme. Actually, he probably sounds very extreme. After all, I suspect most of you reading this are doing so under the protection of some sort of man-made shelter, and with some amount of money on your person, and probably a few needs for money, too. And who doesn’t need money unless they have completely unplugged from the grid? Still, it’s an amusing story about a guy who rejects all forms of consumerism as we know it.
The Frugal Roundup
How to Brew Your Own Beer and Maybe Save Some Money. A fantastic introduction to home brewing, something I’ve never done myself, but always been interested in trying. (@Generation X Finance)
Contentment: A Great Financial Principle. If I had to name one required emotion for living a frugal lifestyle it would be contentment. Once you are content with your belongings and your lot in life you can ignore forces attempting to separate you from your money. (@Personal Finance by the Book)
Use Energy Star Appliances to Save On Utility Costs. I enjoyed this post because it included actual numbers, and actual total savings, from someone who upgraded to new, energy star appliances. (@The Digerati Life)
Over-Saving for Retirement? Is it possible to “over-save” for retirement? Yes, I think so. At some point I like the idea of putting some money aside in taxable investments outside of retirement funds, to be accessed prior to traditional retirement age. (@The Simple Dollar)
40 Things to Teach My Kids Before They Leave Home. A great list of both practical and philosophical lessons to teach your kids before they reach the age where they know everything. I think that now happens around 13 years-old. (@My Supercharged Life)
Index Fund Investing Overview. If you are looking for a place to invest with high diversification and relatively low fees (for broader index funds with low turnover), index funds are a great place to start. (@Money Smart Life)
5 Reasons To Line Dry Your Laundry. My wife and I may soon be installing a clothesline in our backyard. In many neighborhoods they are frowned upon - one of the reasons I don’t like living in a neighborhood. I digress. One of our neighbors recently put up a clothesline, and we might just follow his lead. (@Simple Mom)
A Few Others I Enjoyed
* 4 Quick Tips for Getting Out of a Rut * Young and Cash Rich * Embracing Simple Style * First Trading Experience With OptionsHouse * The Exponential Power of Delayed Consumption * How Much Emergency Fund is Enough? * 50 Questions that Will Free Your Mind * Save Money On Car Insurance
Well, that explains it ;)
I take it you like it hot, then? ;)<<<
Yes, I do like the desert, but I wish it had all the plants from the other areas.
Now, there would be no choices open to me, for I can’t breathe humid air, even being on the oxygen generator, so goes life.
I lived one year in Portland, Oregon and it was awful, gloomy and stay indoors, for it was going to rain or worse was raining.
My favorite foods are actually the simple, cheap ones - pasta, beans, bread, rice. <<<
As mine are, I don’t adjust well to meat and potatoes every meal.
Hubby decided he could get off of work tomorrow, so we are throwing some stuff in the car and heading for DC tomorrow.<<<
How I wish that i was going with you, for it will be exciting, there are several groups going to be there tomorrow and if the true count is ever given, folks are going to be a wee bit surprised at how many showed up.
I will be praying that your hip is better, for pain is no fun to travel with.
Thank you for checking in, and posting, it all adds to making the list readable.
Kitties, no, I do not live with kitties.
I have been taken over by the Kitty Mafia.
Purr Baby is the big hancho, she gives the orders and T.T. carries them out.
She ordered him to get the cheese off the desk, for she thinks it lives there.
If you pick her up, instantly she is on the desk, and even when Scott was holding her the other day, he was surprised, for as much as she loves being petted, she wanted on the desk.
Purr Baby was very upset with me last night, for I told her she was a cat and to go eat cat food.
I swear, she was like a kid, for every time I said she was a cat, she responded in a whining cry of “I am not, you are mean and I want cheese”.
I was glad that she was going to be an on the ground cat, but watched her today, as she learned to climb, from one thing to another, always getting a little higher.
Now, T.T., he is lightening, he found the old tea bags on the plants and has removed all of them, not only removed them, but ran up and down the hall as fast as he could and I caught him tossing one 3 foot in the air.
A few minutes ago, T.T. made it to the desk top and he will have to report “No cheese, she ate it all!”
They are fun and alive and a mess...
Innovative Idea: Eco-Houses Inspired By Lego Bricks
Posted: 09 Sep 2009 02:00 PM PDT
It’s quite easy to put together a Lego house. We all have done it during our wonder years. But would you live in one? No, the house isn’t made from the familiar red-yellow colored Lego bricks but the inspiration comes from there. Eco-houses may soon be the norm rather than the exception. Construction is equated with the airlines industry in its insalubrious impact on the environment. Building eco-houses is an attempt to negate that. The industry has seen a lot of innovation in designing houses made from recyclable materials which are easy to put together.
The latest such comes from a German company that’s based on a modular design; easy to assemble and structurally very sound. The modular blocks are lightweight single units made from naturally cut timber, local Black Forest pine and insulation materials including wood chips, clay, mussel shells and pea shingle gravel. Each block doesn’t weigh more than 25 KG and can be slotted into place very much like Lego bricks. The slotting mechanism involves plates using dovetail joints. The company behind the technology is HIB. There tagline reads – Building with nature.
As the company says on its website –
By the use of a tongue and groove system they are locked into position row by row and very quickly a perfectly straight surface is achieved which can then be finished in timber, plaster or any surface you choose.
The simple Lego like design and the use of lightweight materials obviates the need for heavy construction equipment and labor. Another hurrah for reduced carbon footprint.
The materials and the modular tacking bring another advantage – it also makes the building (even a three storey one) earthquake and storm proof. The building can be further finished using plaster, wood, brick or metal finishes. A concrete floor gives further protection and stability. HIB says that the insulation used achieves energy-efficiency levels 40 percent higher than those attained using standard insulation materials.
HIB provides flexibility in the form of prefabricated designs. HIB also has a pre-planned system whereby components are cut to size and numbered in the factory prior to delivery. The customers just need to lock them together Lego-like. An easy process of self build options saves money for the consumers too.
Eco-minded consumers can check out the technology and the company on its website.
http://www.hib-system.com/index.php?clang=1
From:
AboutMyPlanet.com
www.LivingOnADime.com
Today’s Tips:
* Whenever you’re going to serve soup but find that it is too hot, toss in a few frozen peas to cool it down quickly.
* If a recipe calls for half and half and you don’t have any on hand, you can substitute 4 1/2 tsp. of melted butter and then add enough milk to make 1 cup. You can also use one cup of evaporated milk in exchange for half and half.
* When storing fresh herbs like parsley, whether store bought or home grown, trim about half an inch off of the stems. Place them in a glass or jar with water like you would a vase of flowers and store in the fridge. This will make them last longer.
* I store my celery this way, too. I clean it and place it in my antique celery jar. It looks like a small vase but you could use a large wide mouth mug or jar. The main thing that is important is that they are in an upright position, in water and in the fridge. This is also great because if my family sees the food they are more likely to eat it so, if they see the celery in the fridge all ready to grab and eat, they are more likely to eat it.
Today’s Menu:
Hot Doggie Roll Ups*
Parmesan Potatoes*
Sliced Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Blueberry Cream Pie*
Today’s Recipes:
Here is another great recipe from the Dining on a Dime cookbook. It’s easy to make and very popular with the kids. You can use canned biscuits or crescent rolls depending on your budget for the month.
*Hot Doggie Roll Ups
Hot dogs
Canned biscuits or crescent rolls
Cheese, optional
If using biscuits, slightly flatten one and wrap around a hot dog. If using crescent rolls, unwrap into triangles and rewrap around hot dogs. Bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes until golden.
If you like, you can slice the hot dog 3/4 of the way through lengthwise and lay a small piece of cheese in the cut before wrapping the hot dog. For easy clean up, use foil or parchment paper. Otherwise the cheese will melt on the pan.
*Blueberry Cream Pie
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
2 Tbsp. flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh, frozen or canned
1 unbaked pie shell
Topping:
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. walnuts or pecans, chopped
3 Tbsp. flour
Combine first 6 ingredients and beat on medium speed 5 minutes or until smooth. Fold in blueberries and pour into shell. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes. Combine topping and sprinkle over pie. Bake 10 more minutes. Chill and keep in fridge.
*Parmesan Potatoes
6 large potatoes
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 tsp. pepper
Peel and cut potatoes into quarters length wise. Melt butter in a 9x13 pan. Combine rest of the ingredients in a bag then shake a few potatoes in it to coat with mixture. Place potatoes in a single layer in the pan. Bake at 375° for 1 hour, turning once.
Sweet Potato Fries with Basil Salt and Garlic Mayonnaise Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Show: Everyday Italian
Episode: Potluck Party
4 to 6 servings
5 sweet potatoes, cut into about 1 by 5-inch “fries”
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the sweet potato “fries” on a foil-lined baking sheet and toss with the olive oil. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile combine the basil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. In another small bowl combine the mayonnaise, garlic, and lemon juice, and stir to combine.
When the sweet potato fries come out of the oven, sprinkle with the basil salt. Serve with the garlic mayonnaise alongside for dipping.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fabulous_TVChefs/
Largest collection of Food Network recipes on Yahoo!
Rhubarb Slush
Posted by: “Dorie”
Rhubarb Slush
8 C. diced fresh or frozen rhubarb
1 (16 oz) pkg. unsweetened strawberries
3 C. sugar
8 C. water
1 (3 oz) pkg. strawberry gelatin
1/2 C. lemon juice
11 C. ginger ale chilled
rhubarb curls, optional
In a Dutch oven bring the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and water to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered 5-8 minutes or until rhubarb is tender. Press through a sieve; discard pulp. Stir in gelatin and lemon juice until dissolved.
Transfer to a freezer container and freeze stirring occasionally until firm. May be frozen up to 3 months.
Dorie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DoriesRecipeBox/
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2a. Chocolate Lamb Chili
Posted by: “Dorie”
Chocolate Lamb Chili
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground lamb
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large cloves garlic, minced
3 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
4 cups red beans, with liquid
In a large pot, cook onions and ground lamb in olive oil over medium heat.
When onions are soft and meat browned, season with red pepper flakes, basil, cumin, cinnamon, garlic, chili powder, dried oregano, cocoa powder, sugar, and bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and beans. Increase heat to bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
Dorie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MainDishesMeatsNPoultry/
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Amish Pear Pie
Posted by: “Dorie”
Amish Pear Pie
3 T flour
fresh pears, enough to fill pan
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
milnot or cream
Mix together flour and sugar. Slice pears and stir into flour mixture to coat. Pur mixture into bottom crust. (unbaked pie crust) Pour milnot or cream over pears, enough to cover pears. Sprinkle sinnamon and sugar over the top. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Test by shaking pie, done when solid.
Dorie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DelectableDesserts/
They sound like quite the cats. I can just picture them running around. I’m glad you have some companions there with you. Right now we have a dog and had 2 until our son moved out. Now he drops Jake off most days so he can play with Buddy. They will chase each other around outside, then come in and continue the chase up the stairs and down the upstairs hallway like maniacs. Its funny to watch them.
“I’m just the opposite in that it makes me feel I’m not so bad after all. ;) It does stop me from wanting to accumulate anything more, though.”
Ditto. When I said ‘not like that’ = not that bad. Having grown up with parents/grandparents that lived during the depression, I think we end up being collectors of stuff for that rainy day. But after having to help clean out after they passed, I decided not to have so much stuff. Its a process to keep moving things out as new may come in. A bit harder these days with economic times - makes you want to start hanging on to stuff again.
LOL - Maybe I should have said Left Coast of Lake Michigan.
Actually, I forgot that you were from the Land of Lincoln.
Anyway, Glad you are getting out there!
Stealth mission is tomorrow 9/12. Right after I take my ham radio exam at 9, it will be off for the RINO hunt.
U.S. Students Don’t Know 9/11, Believe Conspiracy Theorists
http://www.realcourage.org/2009/09/u-s-students-dont-know-911/
- Boston Globe: “When students don’t know 9/11”
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2009/09/11/schools_grapple_with_how_to_teach_911/
— Boston Globe reports: “Educators rethink their lessons for children too young to remember”
— “Three years ago, Julie Fox commemorated 9/11 with her students by asking them to write journal entries recounting where they were when the planes hit and how they felt at that moment.”
— “But the Norwell High School social studies teacher has had to retire that assignment.”
— “Too few students remember the day, the succession of ever-worsening reports, the horror of the World Trade Center towers cascading into dust, employees fleeing the Pentagon, and investigators combing through the wreckage in a Pennsylvania field.”
— “Fox said she is confronted with 11th- and 12th-grade students who believe that the attacks were the work of a great conspiracy”
— “Monica Castro of Roxbury, a 14-year-old freshman at the South Boston Education Complex, is among the ranks with little recall. She was 6 at the time of the attacks and has learned about them since from teachers; however, yesterday she was not sure who committed them.”
— “’I forgot - the Muslims or someone,’ she said.”
— “At C.T. Douglas School in Acton, fifth- and sixth-graders will listen to a morning announcement noting that today is 9/11, and then teachers will explain that sometimes bad things happen that are difficult to understand.”
— “’We tell them... that there are very angry people in the world and that we have to focus on the things that we can control,’ said Chris Whitbeck, the principal. “That their job is to be the best person they can possibly be.’”
— “Specifics of the attacks will not be discussed, though if pupils ask questions, Whitbeck said, their questions will be answered.”
— “Kevin Mount, a freshman from Dorchester at the South Boston Education Complex, said he was certain that the attacks were not the result of a conspiracy.”
— “He said they were all a coincidence that the government used as an excuse for attacking the Taliban.”
— “Asked where he learned that theory, he said, ‘From the street.’”
__._,_.___
If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
Hope you do ok with the car trip - it’s no fun to travel while in pain.
Let us know how the crowd in DC is! I hope lots of Patriots show up.
LOL!
Sounds like you are running a doggy-daycare!
Much luck - both with the exam and the hunt.
Just read about your Cat Mafia’s on another post - how cute they are!
[This page makes me smile and imagine what we could do with time and effort, all over the world.........granny]
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ggseedbombs.html
BlogTipsEnlistCommunityLinks
Make a donationTroop DigsGetting StartedE-mail
Seed Bombs A Guide To Their Various Forms and Functions
The Seed Bomb (or Green Grenade) in whatever form it takes is designed to enable seeds to be sown in a hard to reach place and in locations where a gardener is unable to spend long preparing the ground for conventional sowing. They are therefore potentially of great use to guerrilla gardeners who have ambitions to garden in challenging locations or who fear trouble if they spend too long tending the ground and can enable very spontaneous floral attacks.
I have come across and experimented with several different designs. Some are easy to build at home while others are so high tech they are currently only laboratory prototypes. This short guide details my research and will hopefully encourage more inventiveness and testing amongst guerrilla gardeners so we can perfect the ultimate fertile projectile.
Please do share your experiences and ideas about seed bombing in the Community forum.
1 Classic Clay Seed Ball
A mixture of clay soil (or potter’s powder), compost and seeds in the ratio of 5:1:1 with water to bind. This is the most widely used method and their invention is credited to Japanese biologist and farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. PROS: Easy to make at home, cheap and easily customised to local conditions, moulded into any shape. All the ingredients are entirely natural. CONS: Dirty to carry, the clay can easily become baked solid which then slows or prevents germination if there is insufficient rain. Click here to find out more:Kathryn Miller seed bombing
Video Instructions
Documentary
Seed Guns
Seed Bomb productionSeed Guns
2 NYC Green Guerilla Grenade
In the trash-strewn dereliction of 1970s New York guerrilla gardening thrived. The Green Guerillas created two designs for grenades made from rather controversial ingredients. Peat moss and chemical fertilisers are dubious for starters but on top of this eco crime is the instruction to contain this within either a glass Christmas bauble or plastic balloon! PROS: Easy to make at home, cheap and easily customised (for starters improve on this 1970s eco time bomb by using peat free compost and organic fertiliser). CONS: Chucking around glass and plastic is dangerous and polluting, better to use a different method. Diagram of Green Grenades
Full Instructions
Green Guerillas
3 Kabloom “SeedBom”
The SeedBom is beautifully crafted moulded grenade made from recycled paper, egg boxes, compost and seeds (plus the occasional tea bag) to a secret blend by Darren, an ingenious entrepreneurial Scottish guerrilla gardener. PROS: Available to buy ready made online. Beautifully clever with detailed instructions about how to use them. CONS: Unless you’re very clever you’ll need to buy these from Darren! Like real grenades they are quite delicate to handle and like clay balls they require plenty of rain to grow. Kabloom - information about the SeedBom. SeedBom
Kabloom
Facebook
4 Explosive Eggs
Ella 1305 and Aime 1306 invented the explosive egg method of seed bombing in 2007. They showed me how through a tiny incision in the shell of a raw chicken egg are first sucked the yolk and white and then seeds and a little dusty peat is dropped in. They write a message of hope on the outside. PROS: Simple natural ingredients which are also very easy to handle (if you pack them back into the egg box). CONS: You made need your grandmother to suck those eggs because these are a fiddle to make and the lack of much soil makes them little better than scattering seeds (though being in egg shells makes them easier to throw further). Explosive Eggs seed bombs for guerrilla gardening
Full Instructions
5 Seed Balloon
Vanessa 6111 is a very high-tech and industrious guerrilla gardener. In 2009 she developed a wide range of seed dispersal methods of which the Seed Balloon was the simplest. It is a biodegradable rubber balloon filled with a few seeds and helium, held with a string. PROS: Long distance projectile that can traverse great heights. Simple to make if you have some helium! CONS: Totally lacking in any kind of accuracy, you are at the mercy of where the wind takes the balloon, and the slow decomposition rate of the rubber is likely to detract from the seed’s effective germination. Vanessa has gone on to create more effective methods!
Vanessa’s site
6 Seed Pills
Another creation by Vanessa, the seed pill is a versatile micro seed bomb. Seeds and compost are packed into a biodegradable pill capsule. This can either be thrown manually or loaded into an airpistol-like device to shoot the seeds further and more accurately away. The pill is designed to fracture on impact with the ground. PROS: Very easy to handle and versatile (if you have a specially adapted air rifle - Vanessa uses a rifle that is ingeniously disguised as an SLR camera!) CONS: Fairly fiddly to make and currently not for sale. Seed Pill
Instructions
For more tips visit the short TIPSpage and (if you’ve not already) do please read a copy of My Book.
Seed bomb video:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2008/apr/25/seedbombing
Community Projects:
http://lethbridgegg.blogspot.com/2008/06/another-calgary-guerilla-gardener.html
[unchecked links:]
Sites that may interest you...they do me
* http://www.songbike.com/
* http://www.stewlab.com/
* http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/guerrilla_garde.php
* http://activism.ca/wiki/Guerrilla_gardening
* http://www.cityfarmer.org/waterwiseGarden.html
* http://www.city.barrie.on.ca/Content.cfm?C=4250&SC=1&SCM=1&MI=1254&L1M=4
* http://www.guerrillagardening.org/
* http://www.cityfarmer.org/Montreal13.html
* http://rooftopgardens.ca/en/taxonomy/term/50
* http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/1141/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.