OT: Paintings

Dr Clark's cool watercolors got me thinking that maybe I should show off my wife's work. She painted as a kid, then pretty much gave it to to focus on college, then career. This spring Kat enrolled in a painting class out at Eastern Oklahoma Country Technology Center in Choctaw.
This was her first adult painting with guidance from the teacher.

^It's a painting of Ruby Beach in Washington. It's a 30-ish minute drive from my hometown, so we go there every time we head to WA to visit my family. Here's what a pic looks like.

Kat really got the 3D effect of the trees, and the sky is waaaaay back there. She gave it to me since we couldn't make it to WA this year (need a new roof).

This is her current project, her cat Pikachu. (work in progress)
And what Pika looks like on "film".
Even though it's not done, the detais are starting to show up. You can't see it in these pics, but she's got a lot of fur details.
Very cool stuff, and I wish I had that kind of talent. She finds it relaxing, and it's pretty affordable, so we make sure she gets "Kat time" every week.

Don't buy what you don't need: how-to test soil

Save money on lawn maintenance by not buying what you don't need. You could just not buy anything at all and save a lot of money, but then the yard ends up looking like garbage (ask me how I know!). Why spend $25 a bag for high phosphorus fertilizer, if your lawn has plenty of phosphorus and not enough nitrogen?

Find out what your picky lawn wants by doing a soil test. Simple kits can be bought at any nursery or big-box-store for about $4.

Put soil into the "test tubes", add water and let it settle. The lines on the package will tell you (sort of) where you are at.

Unfortunately, these kits offer only very basic information. It will give you a general idea on the soil nutrient levels, and the ph (acid/alkaline level).

For a more detailed look, local extension offices can do a detailed examination of your soil for $10. The Oklahoma County office website is here. It is located at OCU-OKC, in the western part of downtown on Portland Ave.

Directions are on the website, but I will list an abbreviated version here.

1. Grab a bucket and small shovel.

2. Take about 10 to 15 samples, digging down to about 6 inches.

3. Mix in bucket, then take out about 2 cups worth.

4. Take to extension office.

The extension office will take your sample (and your money) and mail it (your soil, not the money) to the soil lab up at OSU. (yes, i stole their pics)

They will poke and prod, do some alchemy & magic, and in about 2 weeks you'll get a printout mailed to you. It will be several pages detailing a macro & micro nutrient breakdown, and recommendations on how to improve the soil.
From here you'll be able to buy the appropriate fertilizer, saving money & the lawn. Mine is in progress, I'll post up the results when I get them back.

Off Topic: Weekend Airshow

Pics from Tinker's Star Spangled Salute this last weekend.

Airplane equivalent of bling.

Some World War 2 oldie.

Thunderbird. Auto settings & max zoom. I was proud of my point-n-shoot for this one.

Mitsubishi Zero

Radial engine. Crazy old school tech.

A-10. My favorite airplane.

More WW2 stuff.

Donell said these were his size.

BUFF

It was too hot....

Out a tanker window. E-3 Sentry!

How to grow fertilizer!

Yes, the title is odd, but accurate.

I was reading a book earlier, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, and the author had written about how, 50 years ago, white clover was a desirable plant to have in your lawn. To the point that people would mix clover seed into their grass seed when starting a lawn.
We consider it to be a weed because Scotts came out with a "weed-and-feed" that killed clover. The only way to justify the product was to list clover as a nuisance.

Interesting to see how a company can change the mind of the public in order to sell a product....

Anyway, besides being "pretty", the old-schoolers knew that clover was a "nitrogen fixer" (interesting write up here), meaning it pulls nitrogen from the air and deposits it on the plant's roots. Nitrogen is the primary nutrient that causes grass to grow thick & dark. It is also 78% of our air.
Oh snap! Free fertilizer!

Poking around online, you'll see with a lawn of 10% clover, the "weed" will add enough nitrogen to the ground that you will never have to fertilize the lawn. And it is organic nitrogen. And it's free.
Why was I paying $30 a bag before....?
This is the $12 bag that will make my entire lawn fertilize itself. Heck yeah. As always, I'll post the results.

Free water! (you pick up)

Rain collection has been used in Oklahoma since the time of the pioneers. It fell out of use when modern irrigation systems became cheap & reliable enough to be useful for farms. It was brought back a bit with the dirty hippies, but then fell off the radar of public awareness. Today, with the green (notice I didn't capitalize) movement, rain collection systems are gaining in popularity as a way to keep gardens growing during drought conditions. Of course they are now more high-tech (and pricier!) than the ol' whiskey barrel & bucket style.

Home Depot, Lowes & other "big box" garden centers even carry them now. Most run $50 to $150, offer varied sizes & styles, and look similar to this:

Yeah, not too cute, eh? At least it is usefull, in that it is fast filling and has directions in American English (as opposed to the usual "Engrish" instructions written by Chinese 7-year-olds). Most connect to the downpout of the house gutters, and offer a spigot to connect to a standard water hose.

If that thing is just too ugly for you, there are some very pretty ones available for more cash. Cherry wood finishes and such, but they start at $250. Since I support the cheap-asses frugal persons, building one yourself is always an option. If labor is free, total cost would be just materials runing $30 to $50.

Of course, with most barrels being around 6- or 70 gallons, they fill up fast. Especially on days like yesterday where we recieved twice our average June rainfall in one day.

(This pic is from 10 am; nowhere close to done that day.)

Yeah, 60 gallons wont cut it for that mess. However, there are companies in OK that can install 5000 gallon systems on your property. These can be buried or free-standing units. Cost is not cheap, and honestly wouldn't do much to prevent flooding. Thing is, it would be nice to have access to a huge amount of free water when it's 105 degrees next month.

My favorite 4 letter "F" word: Free!

Free food strikes us as something odd. "What's the catch?" Yet 100 years ago & before, it was the norm for food to be free, not counting labor. That's the catch, free food takes work.

Thanks to my lovely wife Kat for the modeling and demos. :)

Worst smelling tea ever!

Recently, I tried the compost tea from the video I posted, "The Secret is in the Soil", and let me first say: don't be drinkin' this tea!

This "tea" is made from compost, fish emulsion, kelp, and a ton of bacteria. Yum.... It is used to provide an instant hit of organic nutrients, similar to regular compost, but available to the plant right now rather than over time. Synthetic fertilizer provides the instant availability, but is "not so nice" to the soil. So, after watching how-to vids on compost tea at , I decided to give it a try.

First, put finished compost into a fabric bag. ($5 at Ace)

















Then fill a 5-gallon bucket ($2 at Home Depot) with water and submerge the compost.























Next, add kelp chunk (~$4 a bag at health food stores)...


















and teaspoon fish emulsion. ($7 at Home Depot)


















Use an aquarium pump ($10 at Petsmart) to pump air through tubing ($2) into the bottom of the bucket. This will provide oxygen for beneficial bacteria.















Let it sit for 24 to 48 hours, then it is ready to go into a sprayer.























This bucket made enough "tea" to fill the sprayer 1.5 times. I sprayed most of the yard. Lesson learned: don't spray this on a windy day. Also learned: don't have mouth open when spraying on said windy day.
I left some areas unsprayed, kinda as a control to see how (if) the stuff works.
I'll post results as I see them.

Fun with Garbage: how to compost

I've started a compost pile in the corner of my yard made of grass clippings(actually I'm just too lazy to drag it to the curb, so....).
It's easy to do as this short video explains, and it is amazing to see how fast the stuff degrades. You can throw in almost anything biodegradable. In addition to grass, I've been throwing in Kat's rose clipings, coffee grounds & filters, cardboard, junkmail, homework, bills, and kitchen waste. It will take about 6 months to have finished compost, but I'll post how it goes.

misunderstanding misinformation

When something unexpected or tragic happens, it throws a wrench (and the rest of the toolbox) into our normal actions & expectations.
Initially, after the OKC bombing, the news reported several bombs that had not detonated. Later, the news would never mention it again. I can see how some would want to bring up conspiracy theories about the government being responsible. Personally, I think human error is a more likely cause, mainly due to our government being incompetent.
Way back when (old man hat on), I was sitting in a classified pre-mission briefing in Saudi Arabia. We were told by intel (info gathered by spies) that the Baghdad Republican Guard was arming their artillery with chemical and biological weapons.
"Finally," I thought. Proof for the world. Even in April '03 there were already questions about where were the mysterious WMD. There had been MiGs buried in the sand http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/sandplanes.asp but no WMD yet. Well, as it turned out, it's summer '10 and we're still waiting on "yet".
The intel was wrong at every level, from ALL the intelligence agencies. Even to the point that our small squadron level info was wrong.
Why the story? (old man cap off)
We NEED info to make the right decisions. When it's a life-or-death situation, we are going to go with the max amount of info we can get. During the morning of the OKC bombing, the survivors and rescuers were trying to respond to any and all info that could save lives. I have a feeling (an uninformed opinion) that someone at the scene simply asked about other bombs. Someone else overheard and asked what if it had been bigger. Someone else heard authority discussing that and ran away shrieking about another bomb. Misinformation spread, later dismissed, and conspiracy theory formed.

Off topic: humor & car porn

I liked Avatar, but this is an example of my (stupid) humor.



Pagani has created the best example of "car porn" I've ever seen.

Road Trip!

I've been following the Green Riders on their blog (http://thegreenriders.blogspot.com/) for the last few days. A married couple is travelling across the country on electric bicycles and blogging the journey.
I chose to follow their blog, as it kinda (sorta) relates to the theme of my blog. Also, I like road trips.
Way back when (old man hat on), I used to drive from OKC to western Washington once a year. 2,400 miles over 3 days. Eventually I figured out how to do it in 2 (no, it wasn't legal). I remember my first trip, I drove a 1991 Firebird with no cruise control or GPS and a new exhaust system. Yes, I was nuts and deaf by the end. Anyway, I drove straight west on I-40 almost to LA, then up I-5 all the way to Seattle. I didn't make the best time on the first leg, so I decided to do LA - Seattle in one day. Ouch. Just typing that hurts today. Thankfully, there are benefits to being 21 and having a 24 pack of Mountain Dew in the passenger seat. Unfortunately, I was more focused on the goal than the journey, and only took maybe 5 pics.
Today, I'd be more like the Green Riders, taking my time and probably a hundred or so pictures. Next time!

Inspiration from a coffee mug

I've been fighting the lawn, and I lost. Time to start working with what it wants to do.

"I wonder what else I don't know."

We watched this video in class. Short & interesting, I highly recommend it.





Then after work I watched an episode of Futurama with Kat.



Both kinda spoke to me as to why I'm not a biz major anymore.
I remember being a kid, perhaps 9 or 10, and discussing job opportunities with my sister. She called me lazy when I said I didn't want to get a job. It wasn't that I was lazy, but I just didn't see the point. As a kid I spent time with friends at school (only reason I was there. grades prove it!), then come home and spend time with family and fun games & toys. Why would I want to get a job I hate, so I can spend time away from people I like, just so I can pay stupid bills and have some cash left over to buy lame junk the TV told me to buy...?

This feeling came back when I was wasting time in Price Business School at OU. I wanted to point out the stupidity of it all, how it is all guesswork with nothing proven by the scientific method. I understood it just fine (made a B in macroeconomics without understanding the professor's heavy accent), but the only reason any of it exists is money. I just don't care.
Then, in an entry level psychology class, I learned about how one component of intelligence is our ability to adapt. The example was running out of coffee filters, so you use a paper towel as a substitute. I was stunned by the thought of something I just wouldn't have seen (btw, I tried this trick & it works fine). Why am I not flexible in my thinking and creative...?

This feeling hit me again about a month ago when I picked up The Organic Lawn Care Manual, by Paul Tukey. Seriously, it sounds stupid, but this is a great book. Even though it says "manual" on the cover, it is easy to read and I've been reading it like a novel. Keep in mind, I've worked in a garden center for 4 years. The stuff this book is showing me that I had no clue about is amazing! Common sense stuff that I have been programmed to ignore. 100 years ago, everyone did organic farming. 200 years ago, everyone knew how to grow their own food. Today, with all of our knowledge and high-tech fertilizers, I can't get a simple lawn to grow in healthy. I should have a dark green lawn with no weeds year round. Instead, I've bought into what the TV told me to do, bought the poisons, then come back next season to do it again.

Well, no more of that. But how do I think outside the box when I'm so well trained? I don't have an answer to that right now, but I'm sure I will look like a nut while I go through the relearning process. I've tried the compost tea from my other post (The Secret is in the Soil video). As Kat said about it when Ken's creativity video was over; "I think it takes a lot of creativity to dump something home brewed that smells like shit on your lawn. "

Great organic gardening video

7 minute video that Kat & I found interesting. This guy grows monster veggies in Alaska.

Pics of the yard.

The yard right now.
Kat's pretty flowers:




















And the lawn....

Keeping 40 pounds of metal out of the landfill.

This blog isn't just about green lawn care, although that is my main interest. I'm going to share new and interesting (to me) ways to reduce my carbon garbage footprint. Yes, I enjoy strike-through humor....

So about a month ago I noticed the brake rotors on my car were getting "warped"; vibration in the steering wheel when stepping on the brake pedal, and later a grinding noise developed. I figured I should take care of it before my daily trips to Edmond started up again. I did some research on why Aleros (and Grand Ams, same car) warp the rotors every 12 to 18 months. It gets really annoying and expensive.

Someone on the Alero forum posted this interesting link: StopTech.
It's technical, but really good. The Cliff's Notes say that rotors outside of a race track do not warp. There is no way my 3000 pound street car in street use can warp 40 pounds of pig iron in stop and go driving.
So what is the problem? As the brakes pads deposit material into the rotor (in order to creat friction and stop the car), there can be uneven wear of the pad. This will cause build up of material in some places of the rotor. The built up material takes more heat and eventually forms a bulge of "cementite", an invisible unevenness that feels like a warped rotor. The funny thing is, if you take the cementite covered rotor to a mechanic, they will find variances in the thickness and declare it warped!

So what to do about it? Sandpaper to the rescue! You don't want to use standard aluminum oxide sandpaper, as it will embed in the rotor, making your work as pointless as me in an organic chemistry class. Use garnet paper, which as it sounds is made of crushed garnet.
First, jack up the car and get the wheel off.

(sorry for the blurry pic. it was hot and I was trying to hurry.)

Then sand rotor in all directions, not just a directional pattern with the rotor face. Vertical, horizontal, circles, do everything. Spend about 20 to 30 minutes on each rotor.

(Notice the brake pad impression? Yikes!)

Last, hit it with some brake cleaner. No, I haven't found organic brake cleaner yet....


When done, the rotors will have a slight shine again. I took the car for a test drive, and to my surprise, ALL of the noise and vibration was gone! The cheap & easy fix works.

Total cost for garnet paper and brake cleaner: $7.
Time invested: about 1.5 hours (including setup and cleanup).
Money saved vs a shop puting on new rotors: ~$250. :D

Hey jerky, why the blog?

Kat, my wife, and I have lived in our house for 5 years now. She's handled the roses & flower beds, and the lawn has been my responsibility.
So, now we have beautiful flower beds and a crappy lawn.
Every year I throw some synthetic weed-n-feed at it in the spring, then it gets some high nitrogen junk fertilizer later when it doesn't turn green enough. I mowed when I felt like it (read: when I got nagged to do it), and watered when I remembered. Over the years my lawn has slowly become an ugly wreck that is trying to tell me I'm doing something wrong. I thought the simple solution would be to pass the responsibility to Kat, but she promised divorce was less than impressed with my logic.
So, this spring, I again tried an expensive brand of weed-n-feed in an attempt to get ahead of the weeds. The directions on the back (I know. A guy that reads directions. what the hell, right?!) said that it needed to be watered in with the garden hose, and then it is safe for people and pets to be in the yard once it is dry. OK, easy enough even for me.
Spread the junk, water, and wait. Once dry I let the dogs out back. My little Dachshund, Max, is a low-rider and grass weeds touched his belly as he ran to the nearest weed and shoved his nose into it. That can't be good....


Max in the winter. Despite the pic, he loves the snow.

So I researched (I typed it into Google) the active ingredient 2,4-D. A little poking around shows 2,4-D to be 50% of Agent Orange. Yikes.

There has got to be a better way.....

Starting out....

Welcome to my blog. This will hopefully be an entertaining and insightful read as an idiot tries to green up his lifestyle. I'm no hippie, but I'm not a fan of poisons in my yard or inside the house. Mostly, I'm a cheap-ass looking to save some green. :)