Back to it

We went out of town this weekend, up to visit some friends in Portland. As we were driving up there (and now that I've started this journey, the gas expenditure seems like a guilty pleasure) we passed some wind turbines outside of Condon, OR. I really love the way they look, all across the hillside. I would be furious if there were housing developments in the same place, I hate seeing developments creep up a the foothills. But there's something sort of majestic and exciting about turbines. I wonder if that's just because they're relatively new? Or because they signify clean energy? I worry that some day science will discover that they disrupt the air stream, or are bird hazards, or something. But for now, the massive energy pinwheels delight me. 

As far as around the house, we've really cut down on our dish water consumption. If you remember, running the water when I pre-washed the dishes used a sink-full of water: 

So we've been putting just the tiniest bit of water in the sink to rinse all our dishes. While it's even more disgusting than the sink-full, it's saving a lot of water: 

We've also been using the bucket in the shower while we wait for the water to heat up. We have one stretch of lawn along the side of the house that is a pain to water with the sprinkler because it's so narrow between the neighbor & our place. We're using the bucket to water that stretch of lawn. 

I'm excited to start local veggie shopping for baby food. I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was going to start steaming my own veggies, and I needed to buy a steamer. I had planned on buying the kind that goes in the bottom of a pot, but she had an electric steamer she doesn't use. She gave it to me. w00t!