I've been away over the last two weekends. We traveled to Chicago and then I traveled with a friend to NYC to visit another friend of ours. Maybe I just had too much time on my hands to think, but I found myself really thinking of ways to tweak our very new environmentally-friendly, organic lifestyle. Each city presented me with different thoughts.
In the Chicago-area I was surprised by the number of above-ground pools (my husband and I went for a 4 mile walk one morning through a large, maybe 10-15 year old neighborhood). We saw maybe 2 or 3 in-ground pools and the rest were above-ground. My husband and I were discussing how much use a pool would actually get in that area. We guessed maybe 2-3 months tops which could explain the above-ground v. in-ground (not too mention price being a factor), but after seeing at least 50 of these on our walk I started to wonder how much it costs to keep a pool running. And what happens to the above-ground pools when they deteriorate or the family is simply done with it and trashes it. Does it just go to the landfill to never biodegrade? That being said, I was happy about all the big, shady trees along the sidewalk :)
NYC always creates awe in me. I absolutely love the lights, the hustle and bustle and well... everything about it (maybe because I only visit?!). But then I noticed that all the beautiful lights are ALWAYS on! All day long the lights along Broadway and in Times Square are on... why exactly? I'm guessing that it isn't cheap to have those lights on at all times... couldn't businesses use a time or a solar indicator thingy? I just can't imagine how many kilowatts are used to keep lights on all the time. Granted, I have no clue what the lights are getting their energy from and I will hope that it is from solar panels atop one of the many, many huge buildings, but it definitely made me wonder. I will say that Central Park is absolutely beautiful when you have a 75 degree day to explore it... I absolutely loved the Library walk... one day I want my driveway to look just like that with huge, mature trees lining it and providing such wonderful shade! Granted I have to find just the right old house with a wrap-around porch to go with it... I can dream :)
So, all of these ponderings got me thinking about our own energy consumption. I'm ashamed to admit that it is more than it should be. So, I am not going to use my dryer on our clothes this week and see how I manage to dry everything. I'm also going to start keeping track of our kilowatt usage (our energy company estimates for a few months before doing an actual reading... pain in my butt!) so I can see where I can really make a difference. I'm going to do my first reading today and mark my calendar for future reads. I am sure I'll see a huge difference as I work hard to change our habits, but for now it will just be one baby step at a time.
Finally, I wanted to share this recipe that I found on allrecipes.com (best website ever, imo!) for sweet pickles. These are easy and a yummy way to use up cucumbers... mmmmmmmmmm... so good!
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