Showin’ some love

Happy Earth Day to my favorite planet! (It used to be Pluto, but we know how THAT turned out, don’t we?)

After several days of activities with family, we’re having a quiet day here at our own tiny little chunk o’ earth. That included a good workout for each of us, because all of those days with family included plenty of food! In fact, we’re going easy on the food tonight and just having some BLTs. (Mmmm.)

There was a good article in Parade magazine included with today’s paper, about Earth Day and recycling and all that good stuff. It included a How Green Are You? quiz, and I took a couple of minutes to do that and see how I was doing. Pretty good, but I still need to work on some things. I’m “fluorescent green,” but just barely made it into that category. Our location hinders us in some ways, because our growing season is short, and we can only get locally grown stuff in the summer. And sorry, but if the speed limit is 65 mph, I go 65 mph (Okay, maybe a little more...I have a Mustang, after all!). But overall, we do pretty well.

Our big recycling bin is consistently full, because we recycle all cans, bottles, newspapers, magazines, and cardboard. Ken takes junk mail and work-related papers into the office to be shredded and recycled. Our garbage amounts to very little now. I just took it out, and it was maybe one-fourth of a tall kitchen garbage bag.

We’re far from perfect, and far from 100% sustainable, but we try to do our part. I also love supporting businesses that try to make a difference, and my favorite is Better World Books. I’ve written about them more than once, but they can never get enough attention as far as I’m concerned! They save used books, like ones that are being permanently removed from library shelves, from the landfill, and a significant portion of the profits they receive from the sales of these books goes towards literacy programs. They ship books for free in the continental U.S., and they tack on a few extra cents for carbon-offsetting. I think they’re a fine example of a company doing everything “right.” Also, if you’re like me and love vintage books, you can find some really good ones through them. I love a decades-old book. I’ve even gotten a few copies that were signed by the author! So the next time you want to order a book, please consider Better World. They are truly trying to make one!

Tidying up

Some loose ends, that is.

I'm sure everyone has heard by now that Patrick Swayze died yesterday. Last night was movie tribute night, so Ken got to choose between "Road House" and "Dirty Dancing." He picked the former, naturally, which just so happens to be one of my all-time favorite cheesy movies! I try to watch it at least once a year, and I last watched it in February when Ken was on a business trip. You can find my Road House entry from then via the link. I have to add a few more lines to some of the wonderfully bad ones I mentioned back then.

Calling me sir is like putting an elevator in an outhouse.

Pain don't hurt.

You're too stupid to have a good time.

That gal has got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.

I see you found my trophy room, Dalton. The only thing that's missing...is your ass.

This toilet is worse than the one we worked in Dayton.

Good times! It is deliciously bad, and incredibly fun. Thanks, Patrick. You had a good run, and you'll be missed.

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Before I forget, I owe my friend Milwaukee Dan #1 a Silver Squirrel Award! He knew that the song that has a tiny voice saying "eat!" was “Martian Boogie” by The Brownsville Station. Cousin Shane also knew this (no surprise there, because I remember we really liked that song when we were in high school), but Dan rang in first with a message on Facebook. Congrats, Dan, and do with the Squirrel what you will!

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Speaking of Cousin Shane, we were emailing last night, and he had some interesting information for me. He works for the Post Office, so he's my source whenever I have questions about...you know, mailing stuff. Recycling came up, and he wrote this:

What people don't realize is that when it comes to "bulk business mail" (what most people call "junk mail"), if you write on it "return to sender" or anything similar, it doesn't matter. That mail just ends up in the recycling bin. It does not go back to the sender and they do not honor requests to remove from mailing lists or anything like that.

I guess all I have to say is thank you, Post Office, for recycling, even when others won’t...from someone who recycles even her grocery lists and price tags on clothing. It all adds up, and our actions do have an impact.

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I made a trip to the library today to pick up the next book on our book club list, The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. I haven't finished Angle of Repose yet (still loving it), but I'm getting close. One thing I've started doing when I request that a book be transferred to our branch is to look for the oldest edition available. This latest one is from 1953. I'm not sure why I enjoy these older books so much; most newer editions have some sort of Foreword about the book or author. Maybe that's one of the reasons I prefer the older editions. I enjoy reading them as someone from that time might have read them, before the books were recognized as literary classics. I try to not read much about the book before going into it, so that I don't have any preconceived notions about it. I don't mind reading that stuff after I've read the book, but I kind of enjoy going into it blind. I also think I just enjoy the smell and look of older books, and knowing that many hands have held it and turned its pages before me. Sometimes I wonder what they thought of the book.

I always stop at the Books For Sale section on the way into the library, and I got three great bargains today! A 1951 edition of the Wise Garden Encyclopedia (bought mainly because of its age), a huge native plant reference book called Botanica North America, and just for fun, I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert. I think the guy is hilarious, and this book should be a fun read. Three books...three bucks. You can't beat that with a stick, and I dare you to try!

But here is the absolute best part of my visit to the library, and this totally made my day. As I was getting out of my car, I saw a large bird flying toward the parking lot, and it landed on one of the light poles. It some sort of raptor! As I watched him (I don’t know if it was male or female, but I’m calling it ‘him’), he flew down to the shrubs by a nearby house, and grabbed something off of the ground. He turned around to face me, and it was some sort of rodent. The bird tore into the thing, and it was gone in two bites. WHOA! He flew back up to the top of the light pole, and just sat there for a while. I got a really good look at him, and I probably looked like an idiot standing there in the parking lot gaping at this bird! At first I was thinking that he might be a peregrine falcon. They're rare, but we have a nesting pair, Zephyr and Guinevere, who live in downtown South Bend, and they have chicks every year. I looked in a Sibley's in the library, but looked further in my books when I got home, and I'm pretty sure it was an osprey. They hang out near water, and maybe the library's small ponds are enough for them. He had more of a striped head like an osprey, rather than the "helmet" that a peregrine has, and his chest was mostly white with little speckling.

It was the coolest thing. I told the woman behind the counter that I thought I saw a peregrine, and I think I'll send an email and say that I believe that it was an osprey instead. Oh, if only I'd had my camera! He was maybe 20 feet away from me, munching on Rodent Tartar. A very handsome bird--I think raptors are amazing! When I left the library, I was still so excited about it that I had to force myself to concentrate on driving! Have I mentioned that I'm easily amused?