A Quote

M lent me a book on farmgirl life, which I devoured in hours. Two quotes to share, and then I'm calling it an early night.

First, on my "save the world" soapbox:

"If we all used clothesline, we could save THIRTY MILLION tons of coal a year, or shut down FIFTEEN nuclear power plants. And you don't have to wait to start. Yours could be up by this afternoon."
-Bill McKibben, Prairie Writers Circle (emphasis added)

I almost can't wait to see my next power bill, just to see how much money we saved. Um, we also replaced every light in the house that we could with the energy saving curly little bulbs. Our landlord had 100 watt lightbulbs in almost every single outlet. We replaced 20 bulbs. TWENTY, 100 watt lightbulbs. With the new bulbs (which run on 13 watts each), we reduced our potential output just in lightbulbs from 2,000 watts to 260 watts. WOW.
Now I don't feel so guilty for leaving a light on here and there, eh? (Now if only the bill would be a measly 1/10th of what it was this month!)

Other energy savers: hand wash some dishes. Ok, I am as addicted to my dishwasher as the next gal, and I HATE hand washing dishes, but I think I hate my power bill more. Washing the dishes by hand isn't so bad if it's only a few, like the breakfast cereal bowls and that stray glass you find hanging around. I got brave and even washed ALL the dishes we used over the last couple days by hand, and that includes the dishes I used when we had some company over yesterday afternoon. (Ok, ok, they were only used for cake and milk, but still... I hand washed them!)


And the second quote pretty much sums up how I am settling into life and the general feeling I have here:

"And some, like me, are just beginning to guess at the powerful religion of ordinary life, a spirituality of freshly mopped floors and stacked dishes and clothes blowing on the line."
-Adair Lara