Happy New Year!

First picture is me coming off the trail New Year's Eve.  Some of my old and new friends at our dinner  party last night are in the next two pictures.  Beautiful day for a ride on the trail to Floral City today.  The motivation was for me to sign up for the water color class that begins next week.  If you pay ahead you save $5 a lesson.  I'm all for that.  Means I can buy more art supplies with my savings.  I'm sure that isn't what Michael had in mind, though.

My Italian friend raved about my Italian cooking, a feather in my cap!  She had a few tips for me that came in handy.  I was a bit anxious about how to have the pasta ready at just the right moment.  She said the trick is to cook it about al dente and drain it into a colander.  Then, when you are ready to serve, plunge it into a pot of boiling water briefly and it will be perfect.  It worked like a charm and the dish was delicious. Problem was, I was sure the recipe wouldn't be enough, even though it said servings for 8.  So, I increased it and you know how pasta can get away from you. We now have enough left over for at least two meals for us and then some.  Well, you never want to be come up short in the food department when you entertain, a hostesses nightmare!


I wanted to write my "Ode to the Trail"today and include it in my blog, but I don't have the time.  Our friend, Julie, wants us to come over for New Year's Eve cheer tonight and I haven't cleaned up from our bike ride yet. We really aren't into great revelry for New Year's and usually only wake up to welcome the new year when we hear the signs that it is midnight out our window as the neighborhood celebrates for us. A quick New Years' kiss sews it up for us and back to sleep again, once the sirens stop outside. We figure an hour there will be about right, since the party doesn't even start until 9.  We usually head to bed about that time.

I was surprised I had something to throw together to take to Julie's at the last moment, without a trip to the store.  But fear not, I was actually able to scrape together most of the ingredients for a creamy black bean salsa, with only one substitution, tomatoes for the red pepper.  Not bad for me.  An actual recipe out of an actual magazine, no less. 

Happy New Year to all my followers and I will try very hard to write my Ode tomorrow.  I know you wait with bated breath.

The overwhelming support

Such wonderful feedback! Everyone  is raring to go with the recycling in Lewistown. The support is overwhelming!  I only wish I had more definitive information for them.  Everything is so close, yet not there yet.  I hope they will all find a way to hang on to those plastics until we can start the operation going.

It is great to know that so many people there are ready for change.  They definitely see the glass as half full.  However, we will always be challenged by the half empty types, who just want to keep status quo and left alone, doing things the way they always have.

But, change happens whether we embrace it or not.  We all can attest to the fact that our bodies have changed over the years, for better or worse. We never had to give much thought into what we put in them when we were much younger. However, we have found out that, over the years, neglect takes it toll and either we make the necessary changes or we suffer the consequences.

That is a lot like the earth we were given to care for.  Man didn't think much about what what he was doing to the environment when we didn't have the pollutants at our disposal to destroy it.  But, over the years we have acquired many ways for us to cause terrible damage to our home.

So we have to change or ruin our God given home.  Just like with our bodies.  We can abuse it and pay the consequences or start living a healthful life and live a quality life to the end.  Yet, there are always those who will not see the connection and continue to abuse their body and those who will continue to disregard their responsibility to our earth, and we will all pay the price.  Half full or half empty, our choice.

I'm having a dinner party tonight.  I'm making Italian for an Italian.  How brave is that?  At least she said I was.  I'm either brave and know what I'm doing, or ready to commit another one of my guffaws that I'm famous for.  My friends are used to those, too.

Independence, at last!

Michael bought me my own computer for my upcoming birthday!  I feel like a teenager who just got her first car, imagining all the places I can go and the things I can do.  I never had a car when I was young so I can't say I have had this experience previously, but I can feel it all kicking in now.  Michael is talking about getting his own email address.  I have to agree, it is time.  Mine is going to be full everyday soon when my article appears in the local Lewistown Argus, I hope.  That is the anticipated reaction I hope to get from it.

Repurposing.  That is a relatively new word that intrigues me with the possibilities it conjures. It works better for me than "recycling".  I know everything that has a useful original purpose eventually outlives that life.  That doesn't mean it no longer has any purpose except to be thrown out into the landfills or road ways. It means that most everything can begin a new life purpose.  

It may be from having been an elementary school teacher for all those years.  We never looked at anything that was being thrown away without thinking about how it could be used in the classroom.  Maybe a toilet paper tube to be turned into an elf or Santa.  Or an egg carton into an earring holder for Mothers' Day or a soup can for a pencil holder for dad on Fathers' Day. 

Just like us, once we retire.  It doesn't mean that once we are no longer working at a paying career our usefulness has been spent.  It merely means that our life has a new purpose, maybe just as productive as previously.  But, as with any material thing we have used and are ready to discard, we have to give some thought into how to usedit in a new way, just like the rest of our life.  Productively.  It takes effort to repurpose things and it takes effort to repurpose our life. 

So if you aren't as fascinated with the word repurpose as I am, just keep reusing the old recycling word. The important thing is use it and then use it again and again.

Views of today vs tomorrow

You may have noticed how easy it is to set lofty long term goals, such as New Years' resolutions. We probably start to think about what would be good for us to adopt as part of our life style months before January 1st, with strong drive and optimism that we will be able to accomplish them. We will get up every morning and run five miles before beginning our busy day.  We will resist the apple pie sitting in the refrigerator waiting for someone to eat before it has to be thrown out. We will make the final  decisions and do the tough work of getting a recycling program started in Lewistown finally.

We envision how smoothly these goals will be obtained, with just a little motivation to stay the course.  The visual results of our success will spur us on daily, we are certain.

Then January 1st arrives and we begin to live the reality of our commitment.  It will take hard, consistent work, day in and day out.  We realize that immediate gratification is so tempting and hard to resist when we are confronted by it at the time.  Maybe I'll only run three miles today or maybe I need to sleep in a little just for today.

Or, that pie really shouldn't be wasted.  I could always cut back somewhere else tomorrow and run a couple of extra miles to compensate. But, right now my mind puts those lofty, idealistic goals aside long enough to get that immediate satisfaction that I really don't want to, but wish I did, resist.

Now I have to apply this principle to following through with the completion of the recycling project.  The easy part was envisioning a program that would enable the community to dispose of its waste responsibly.  The easy part was working out how to execute the program.  Now the hard part is making the phone calls to people who have not been as forth coming as I had expected and convincing them to get into gear. 

Knowing that long term goals are easy and that the present reality of today of carrying them out is difficult helps.  Knowing that this is all just part of the human psychic helps.  Keeping these realities in the fore front of my thinking helps me face the tasks and just get them done.  You just have to get through the pain first before you can enjoy the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing the goal compeleted at the end.  And that makes it all worth it.

A little insight would help

I wish I could have a view from inside some people's brains sometimes.  For instance, when you haven't heard from people in at least a year, why don't they write a little something in their cards that they send to let you know how they are doing and what they have been up to instead of just signing their names, at best?  Me, I like to try and get my postage worth.

And why do people litter?  What are they thinking when they throw trash out of their car window?  When I went out on my morning run today I picked up the trash along the road that had been thrown out just yesterday.  Now, I noticed that the fishermen who were fishing off the bridge actually cleaned up after themselves Christmas Eve, as there was not a scrap for me to pick up the next day.  They must have been feeling a little good will towards men and the earth at the time.  That sure was short lived, however, as there was plenty to pick up this morning again.

So there I was, with my hands full of trash and heaven only knows what germs, running along the road with the sweat pouring off my nose on this 100% humidity day and no way to do anything about it. I'm sure I really look suspect when there I am running down the road with a beer bottle in each hand.  Maybe that is what those people are thinking, " Let's see if we can get that old lady who shuffles down the road with beer bottles to do it again for us today".  Or maybe not.  Maybe they just aren't capable of thinking that far out when they trash our earth.

Back on Track

We're getting back to our old routines again.  That's not really a bad thing, really. I went out for a four mile trudge, far from what I usually call a trot.  I stopped after the first mile for water, the second mile for a stretch and the third for another drink of water, all good excuses for a bit of rest. It is like a train that has jumped its track and is slowly getting back on, two wheels at a time.  Once all wheels are back on, it is smooth riding from then on usually.  Until the next derailment, of course. It takes so little time to get out of shape and so much more effort to get it back together again, the older I get. That's incentive enough to keep those intervals of time as short as possible.

Don't know what to do about all the tempting, bad choices that have entered our home over the holidays. It didn't help that Santa added to them.  Michael got not one, but two boxes of Whitman chocolates from the big guy. He really is a bad influence, but what would you expect when you look at the size of him.  Guess I should make my next project improving Santa's choices, but what would be the fun of that at Christmas time?  So, I suppose a good place to unload a lot of the sweets is on my friends, when they come over or at the monthly social at the pool on Thursday evening.  With a friend like me who needs enemies?  Actually, I'll bet I'm not the only one with that idea.

So, I'm ready to roll.  I intend to devote a good segment of my afternoon today to writing an article for the Lewistown Argus titled: Recycle Lewistown:  A vision for 2012. I hope it gets a lot of the locals' attention and some buzz going to generate some excitement in the community about the prospects that lay ahead for them. I intend to put a few of the reticent ones on the spot by reminding them of their initial commitment at the meeting they had in November. Sometimes, that is just what they need to wake them up.  Once a few of their constituents start to put the pressure on them, I think they will either get busy or come looking for me.

Christmas Day

Kathy and the kids left for Orlando about 5pm for their flight out, back to Montana in the morning.  It was an  especially memorable Christmas since it has been  many years since we have had children around the Christmas tree Christmas morning. I just wanted to soak it in to savor the moment for the years ahead when there will not be any children here. They are all growing up so quickly there won't be any little ones in our family for much longer. Unless you count great grand kids we hardly ever see.

Christmas dinner was different than for those up north, as we sat gathered around the table out on the lanai, since it was too warm in the house. Unusual even for us here in Florida, which is usually about 10 degrees cooler.  We weren't complaining, though, since it gave a welcomed break for the visiting Montanans. They will have to brace themselves for that first blast of frigid air as they leave the airport.

Michael got all the Christmas boxes, etc. over to the recycling center today to get ahead of the full containers bound to be over flowing by tomorrow. It sure did keep our regular trash down to a minimum. I can remember from years past how the trash was always stuffed on Christmas day.  Makes me feel sooo much better about it all.

Forewarned!

The first of January, I will be hitting the recycling project running.  So all those who have been negligent about following through with their part of the process, be forewarned.  I will be hunting you down, contacting you with a vengeance and hounding you until you complete the role you had committed yourself to in this process from the beginning.  I will take you at your word, that you want me to get this done and that you are willing to help in anyway you can.

Of course, I am realizing that people are more talk than action. How naive I can be to take people at their word. That may work to my advantage, though.  Since I really do expect as much out of others as I do myself and I do expect that their word means as much as mine, than I can honestly proceed with my expectations that they will come through in the end. I really do have faith in this endeavor and expect them to, too.

So I will be charging forth with more conviction than I have ever put forth into an undertaking.  And I will need all the support I can get.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  Feels like I should be doing something more demanding than writing in my blog at the moment.

Enjoying the grandkids

I've been too busy lately to update my blog.  My daughter is here with her children, Nikky and Anna and boy friend, Rick, for Christmas.  They are here for just a week so it is more important that I spend my time with them than for me to be blogging.  We have been having a great time together, enjoying the activities that unique to Florida this time of year. The kids have flirted with the pool, which is pretty chilly this time of year, but the sun warms them back up pretty quickly.  Nikky has taken to playing tennis and riding in the kayak like a natural.

Today we  had a full day a Silver Springs in Ocala.  It is a refreshing change to the super hype of Disney.  Just a laid back natural park that has been here as long as Florida, just about.  Even if you don't have all the exciting rides you also don't have the huge crowds and long lines. Just lots of gators and a smelly giraffe, pretty much, as you ride in glass bottom boats and have a bumpy ride through the brush behind a jeep. I hope old Florida doesn't become something totally of the past as big commercial enterprises take over and make it look so passe.

There is always a placed for the passe, when you just want a little of yesterday again.

If we make it, we deserve to lie in it.

I really love that we need a larger container for all of our recyclables. We recycle way more than we throw into the regular trash for garbage pick up anymore.  It makes me feel good that so much of what we throw away is going to be reused instead of ending up in the land fill. Can you just imagine, when you multiply what we recycle with the millions of households in America, the impact it would make?  I hate to think that hundreds of years from now, when our ancestor go to plant crops or build new homes, all they find after the first thin layer of dirt is plastic! The soil and water would be so contaminated, who can even begin to imagine the consequences?

As is so typical with mankind, they just don't think that far ahead.  The future beyond our own life expectancy isn't really a reality.  What a terrible way to treat the precious gift we received from our creator.  I know what I would do if I were him.  I'd say, "Well if that's all the thanks I get, then just live in your own putrid stew".

Got the muffins baked for the grandkids' to eat for breakfast.  I won't tell them how good for them they are.

Reaching for the brass ring

I saw Santa on the trail today when I was biking to Floral City(16 miles round trip). He was just wearing his red undershirt and shorts of course, because he was on the trail in Florida.  He would have died in his red wool suit trimmed in white fur! His snowy, white beard  looked a little sooty.  I guess he hadn't had a chance to clean up, since he has been so busy lately. He also was sporting a cane, which I would expect, since he had walked so far from where his sleigh had broken down.  He must have been down from the north checking to see which kids were going to be in Inverness visiting grammas this Christmas. Good thing.

I thought I would take a stab at filling out the application for the Pepsi grant to support our recycling project in Lewistown today. (Of course, after I wrap presents and make cookie dough for the grandkids).  I have never attempted such an endeavor before, so I guess I'll just have to write it from my heart. I really feel that if they hear what we are attempting, in our own little corner of the world, they just may be interested. Everything is so close to becoming attainable, it just seems the brass ring is almost at my finger tips.  I just have to stretch a little further.

I know that Moses was a great leader(no, I am not equating myself with Moses by any means) of his people.  But he had Aaron as his spoke person, because God knew that Moses wasn't the greatest orator around. So where is my Aaron when I need him?  Or her.

Don't believe it!

I went to lunch with my girl friends today for our before Christmas get together.  I had a delightful Ahi tuna salad. Since it was still early in the day, we went over to Nancy's for tea and a chat.

After my morning run, I was cleaning up for my luncheon date and decided to try a tip I got from the Dr. Oz show.  He said to put olive oil in the cream rinse after washing your hair, then just rinse it out.  It would not only give your hair a beautiful shine, but also protect it from damage done by frequent washing.

That part made perfect sense, but I should have trusted my instincts about just rinsing it all out. By the time I had dried it and tried to style my hair, I knew it was a huge mistake.  My hair was a greasy mess.  But it was too late to rewash it and dry it once again.  So I tried baking soda and blotting it.  No improvement seen.  Time was up, time to leave and there I was, looking as if my head had been basted.

I tried to explain what had happened as soon as they saw me.  They reserved comment.  At least they aren't phonies and didn't make comments about how becoming it was.  One just said," Well I must say, I do prefer your hair the way it usually looks".  At least they didn't try to ditch me at the restaurant or any thing.

That's the thing about friends at this point of my life. They accept you, warts and all. When I was a teenager trying to find where I fit in, I never really did.  I was always on the fringes of the in crowd.  They included me in most events, but not on the "you are my best friend category". Maybe that was from being a late comer to the group, I don't know.  Now when I say that to those old classmates they say they can't believe I felt that way.  I think they are just saying that to be nice.

When I was in Germany, I had lots of friends again, but sometimes I had the feeling that I was included because they needed one more person to fill the car or share a room when traveling.

Now, my friends are all different with different interests and ideals, but we all get along just fine.  We just don't talk about politics or religion much. And their remarks are kind.

A time of year for socializing

I just walked around the island for 30 minutes for my exercise so far today.  I must have strained my back when I lifted the bike rack and put it into the back of the car to go down and pick up Michael.  (More rubbing of salt into the wound). Actually, it is a lot better today, but thought a day of easy exercise wouldn't be a bad idea.  Good chance to see what the neighbors have been up to, anyway.

 My social calendar sure has filled up quickly this week.  It is kind of a last mad rush for us all to get in any get to gathers with each other before those going north for Christmas leave and those of us staying and having family arriving, get busy with grandchildren.

Tonight, the ladies are meeting at Julie's for the Nutcracker and popcorn. It isn't Christmas for Julie unless she sees The Nutcracker each season. It's lunch with the girls on Wednesday.  Our circle is getting so big that we need a larger table to accommodate us all.  And then a cocktail party Saturday night at a new friend's house.They just arrived back.  Everyone is back now, in fact.

This time husbands are included.  Of course that means that more times we have to reciprocate, too. That means digging out more recipes and trying new things that are bound to fail as usual.

I have some more cookie baking to do. I won't mess with the recipes to make them healthy, either.  My girl friends came to the consensus that we didn't need to exchange any small gifts or do a cookie exchange this year.  I go along with most anything, usually.  But, I think I can sneak  in a few home baked cookies when I see them. It just doesn't feel right if I don't. 

Looong drive

I spent eight hours on the road yesterday.  Usually, when I spend that long on the road I'm going somewhere.  For enjoyment.  To stay for a few days. But, I drove four hours south by Ft. Myers to pick Michael up and he drove back for another four hours.  One of my last comments to him before he left for his bike trip was,"don't call me to pick you up."

After a day of flat tires, then finally breaking the quick release on the wheel so the wheel kept falling off, he checked into a seedy motel in La Belle, Florida, and called me.  He was far from any possible help for getting his bike repaired.  I could see why there was no bike shop around.  No one would ride there on purpose. It is in the middle of no where.  Not the intended route he had planned to take, but hoping he would be able to get as far as a town of size enough to repair his bike.

Needless to say, he was very happy to see me show up around noon yesterday. I think I could have asked for the moon and he would have given it to me.  Of course, I had rubbed a little salt into the wound by telling him of all the great shopping plans I had had with my friends for the day.

But, it is good to have him back home again, safe and sound. I worry about him a lot less when he is within sight.

I stand corrected- not Brad Pitt

I quickly realized last night, as the movie began, that Water For Elephants does not star Brad Pitt.  I don't know where I got that idea, except sometimes our perceptions of reality can be a bit off. Anyway, the leading man had nice eyes.

As so often is true, what we hold to be fact is only an illusion of our own perception, easily distorted, of the situation. That's why politics is such a crock. All this posturing, you don't know if they really believe what they are saying, or if they are just trying to play games with our minds and convince us that what they are saying is true. I never have believe that this is a black and white world, anyway, just shades of gray.

Michael called this morning telling me that he woke to a flat tire this morning. He tried changing it, but it went flat again.  He tried another spare that he had with him and it went flat, too.  He tried the old repair kit that he has carried around for ever, but that didn't work either. 

The next time that I heard from him he was walking along the side of the road to the next town.  He said he should be there in about an hour.  Next call, there was no bike shop in town, but he found a True Value and was able to buy a couple of new tires and a new patch kit.  That's what happens when you don't replace old spares that have been in the hot garage for several summers.  They just don't hold up.  Go figure. They're rubber. The garage gets very hot.

Some things it just doesn't pay to be conservative about.

How do you keep up?

Apparently, conservation wasn't big on my mind today. A gaggle of women friends are coming over tonight.  We call it a sleep over, but they don't sleep and they don't stay over.  It just lets them know to come dressed  comfy, and enjoy a good movie and good company for several hours. And no men invited. 

We wanted to see "Water for Elephants", since some of us had read the book and others just wanted a good story and to see Brad Pitt.  So I drove to a Red Box at Winn-Dixie to rent the movie, brought it home and put it into our DVD player.  It read "no disc" on the screen. I tried wiping it down and trying again, with the same results. Once again, I drove back to a Red Box and tried another time, different box same movie, went back home put it in and had the same result.

I was smart enough to copy the phone number of the Red Box Co. down, so I called to see if they could give me any ideas of what was going on. After answering some general questions, the very pleasant girl on the line told me that, because our DVD player was over a year old, we couldn't run a recent release. I told her it hadn't been used more that a dozen times tops, but she said they have changed the format of new DVDs now to prevent duplicating issues.

So I had a choice of renting an older film or buying a new DVD player.  Since conservation wasn't  on my agenda today, I drove out to Walmart and bought a new one, 15 miles each way. This only makes sense if you really had your heart set on seeing a particular movie and you didn't want to let your friends down.

I can't keep up with how quickly technology becomes obsolete.  In the old days we would brag about how long something lasted and just never wore out.  Today, the gadget may still run, but it needs to be replaced because it hasn't kept up with the rapid developments in the technology. So there we are with all of these perfectly good things that are totally obsolete. So frustrating to me, yet I know the younger generation just eats up all the newest and latest things coming out each year.

So bring on the pizza and popcorn!  I'm ready! This time.

Recycling Christmas

I got out all the Christmas decorations out yesterday.  I had forgotten how tired looking they all are, until I went over to Nancy's house for dinner the other night.  When I walked in, all I could say was,"wow!" and "ooh", and "aah!",she had such lovely, elegant decorations so pointedly place in each and every corner and  room. Her tree looked like it came from a Macy's window in New York City, like I remember seeing when I was a child. She said her daughter had come over and decorated for her, (sigh) and had it all done by the time she came home from shopping that day.

Now we'll take a look at my decorations, which I have had from the beginning of time.  Really. Our tree,(I might add was one a friend was throwing away because only half the lights on it worked.  So I took off the lights and kept the tree) which will be decorated by my grandchildren when they arrive, has an eclectic collection of what would be called "early teacher gifts" theme. I have saved every one of the decorations given to me over the years. As they each eagerly presented me with their gift, I assured them that every year, as I placed the ornament on the tree, I would remember the very special child who had given it to me. 

My memory of the name would last me for about five years, at best.  Then I would only remember that a thoughtful child had given it to me.

The rest of my decorations have been used and reused for ever, too.  I have some grosgrain, red ribbons that came on some beautifully boxed cheeses and nuts from one of those expensive catalog companies. The taste of those treats no longer lingers, but the bows grace every lamp shade in the living room.  I think they look kind of pretty and that I am pretty clever, until I saw Nancy's(or should I say, her daughter's, sigh) decorating flair.

I also have lots of gold, silver, red and green Mardi Gra beads that I have collected over the years.  Some I've given to grandkids, but I hung on to just enough to string around mirrors and things to add a note of casual elegance.

To finish up the theme, I have quite a few, not plastic but not silk either, red and white pointsettas, which were ready to be thrown out after serving their original purpose as table decorations at a party once, to place around my gently burned over the years candles. Not too bad, really.  Throw in a few mini, white lights and you've got atmosphere that you won't see in any Macy's window anywhere.

Now that's recycling.

Michael left on his bike trip today.

I don't give tests to see what people remember about my past blog entries, but I will check myself to be sure I have explained things carefully enough, though.  I had said that I like to collect the wasted shower water to put on my plants outside.  They appreciate it and it beats hauling the hose around to the other side of the house.

Michael left at 8 this morning for his bike trip to Key West. After a hearty breakfast and packing several P&B sandwiches,(all provided by yours truly I need not add) he was off without much of a hitch.  Just a last minute reminder to put on some sun screen and he was off, with only a slight wobble when he tried to throw his leg over all his gear packed on the back of his bike.

So I headed out onto the lake in my kayak, since it was such a calm, warm day(the warmest in the nation yesterday, by the way. I'm not complaining). It was so peaceful, with just the rhythmic sound of my paddle dipping into the water most of the time. Except for the occasional air boat roaring by somewhere in the lake.  I absolutely hate those things and can't imagine why in the world anyone would need to use one in the lake.  The everglades ok, but not in the lake. We hear them late into the evening when we are trying to relax for the day and they don't even need to be very close for their loud, obnoxious noise to be heard.

I paddled to all the places I have seen gators in the past, but they must be asleep under the banks, I guess.  Didn't anyone tell them it was the hot spot in the  nation yesterday? Anyway, it was a great way to get some upper body, recreational excersize for the day.

Where I didn't find gators, I did find alot of trash to clean up.  I had so many plastic bottles and sandwich bags in my boat, there was hardly enough room for me by the time I got back to the dock. What, I'm supposed to thank people for allowing me to have my altruistic experience for the day?  I'd rather do that by getting my Christmas cards written(hope people appreciate them, anyway) today.

Just two things to remember when you go out in your kayak. 1. Don't drink too much water and  2. remember, you have to paddle back, too.  Hope Michael remembers that on his trip.

It all just takes practice

When I began running in the 70's, it was really hard to even do a mile or two.  But, with time and consistency, it got easier and I got good enough to win a turkey or two at 5k races.  Ok, so Michael won the turkey and I won the pumpkin pie, but there is a point that I'm making that is more important than pumpkin pies and turkeys. (actually, once I did win a certificate for a turkey),  but I've digressed.

The point is that, yes, at first it may seem like a little more work to recycle, but it does get easier and more natural with practice. And it's just like a successful run, the feeling of satisfaction you get knowing that you are indeed doing something good for the earth, each other, and yourself respect. So, take the small moment of time from your busy day, rinse out the container and put it into something that can hold your recycleables until you take them to a recycling container around town.  Face it, you are going to go out sometime anyway.  So just take them along and drop them off.  No big deal and no extra gas since you are going out anyway.  Those who have curbside pick up should really feel embarrassed if they don't make just that small effort to take it to the curb with your other garbage.

We talk alot about what the world will be like for our children economically in the future.  What about what it will be like in their environment in the future? If we feel that we have a responsibility to give them a debt free world to live in, then why isn't it just as important to give them a world free plastic and other harmful things in our soil and waterways?  What will they do with a contaminated, dirty, polluted world even if they do have money to burn in their pockets someday?

And I did put the bucket in the shower with me today and collected a gallon or two. When Michael asked me what I was doing, I told him, "Just read my blog and you'll know!"

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle update

Ok, so some of us are more motivated to jump on the bandwagon than others, I admit. I just enjoy the challenge of seeing just how much I can reduce, reuse, and recycle and how little we can have picked up for the trash that goes into the landfill each week. Since we have single stream recycling here in Florida, it is just plain interesting to try  recycling everything that we used to throw out and it is difficult for me to understand why everyone else isn't as enthusiastic about it as I am. I mean, we can recycle about anything but raw garbage here and I guess we could compost that, if Michael could stand the mess.  He just doesn't take to messes too well.  Plus, I would expect  that the raccoons would dig it all up and have it strewn all over the yard by morning.

Yes, I am more committed to this enterprise than Michael is.  I'll dig the toilet paper tubes out of the garbage to recycle where as he says we don't need to go that far.  I should start saving some for the grandkids to make Santas and elves with when they come.  You never know when you might have a rainy morning to occupy.

I'll grab an old sponge under the sink to wipe up a spill, but not quite as fast as he can snatch a tissue out of the box, wipe and throw it into the garbage.  Drives me crazy.  That is one more tissue wasted, one more little piece of a tree that could have been saved. I'm not really that cheap, just like to conserve.

I did get him to quite double plastic bagging our garbage, though.  That's some progress.  And sometimes he'll use an old running tshirt to wipe windows, but not all the time.  So I just have to appreciate the progress there is, as little as it may be.

Really though, my efforts are put to shame next to my friend Julie's. I am actually embarrssed when she asks me if I use plastic bags for sandwiches or left overs in the frig. I try to reassure her that I wash them every time and reuse them over and over again. She is better than I am.  She uses storage containers that she has washed from a product and reuses them.  And she uses bread bags instead of buying bags when she needs a bag for something. So I am reusing the bread bags even though it drives Michael crazy to see them in the drawer.  It's like having garbage in your draw to him.

I've tried using a bucket to catch the wasted water that goes down the drain as the water is heating up in the shower. After my shower, I would carry  it outside for my plants. Guess I need to try that again.  Coming through the house with a full bucket of water really must drive Michael crazy, though.

What ever you want to call it

This morning on my run I did some fartlets, ausfarts or ____, what ever you want to call them.  Anyway, I picked up the speed every couple of minutes for about 30 seconds at a time.  I did run during those intervals, but I guess you can't really say that I look like I'm"running" the rest of the time. It's mostly a "trot", I think since, according to my crossword puzzles, a trot is a slow run.  And I don't want to call it a "jog" because that's what old people do.  They jog and I'm not old.  Now don't ask my sister, because she would say that I'm old so get on with it all. Aches, pains , and all that type of thing.  But, as I told my son when he said that, I said I may be older, but I'm definitely not old. People just don't have to be old at 70 anymore.

The reason I haven't been blogging about my recycling project is that I haven't had any information back yet from Roger, formerly with Headwaters Recycling, and they have the program that seems the best for us so far.  So I bide my time writing about fartlets, etc. I am hoping that I hear early next week so that I can devote my time to it while Michael is on his 10 day bike trip to Key West. I may have to get alittle assertive with some people if I hit a brick wall.

My friends and I have several activities planned for while Michael is gone.  It is a good time for us to have our slumber party again.  We'll (all women, in case you are wondering) all get comfy, eat lots of junk, drink some wine and watch a movie, between gabbing about a lot of nothing important.

How times change

As I was on my morning run, I noticed a man along the side of the road in his car, talking loudly and gyrating with his hands. Now, in not too many years ago I would have been alarmed and figured he was hallucinating or had something mental going on with him. Of course, today we think nothing of it, knowing that he is probably on cel having some heated political conversation with someone.  No big deal, heated political conversations are pretty common these days.

Speaking of, as I have probably said before, I classify myself as an independent, politically, I mean.  Yes, I have always been pretty independent you say, but I'm narrowing it down right now to politically speaking.  Really, why would I want someone else to define what I think and believe? I can do that for myself.  Just because some politician says that it is so doesn't mean it is in my book.  It is interesting that often when they say what first comes into their head (which is usually what they really believe) they later retract when they hit opposition with their party. Oh, that's not what I really meant to say or after careful evaluation on the subject this is what I really meant.

There just aren't many absolutes in this world and politics is just not one of them.  And anyone who holds to a view solely because their party tells them that this is the way "we" think and if you want to be one of "us" then this is your truth, too. There is some truth coming from each direction as well as a lot of hog wash coming from both. Take the topic of unemployment insurance.  There are people who really have tried to get a job.  Then there are those who won't take a lower paying, because they have a steady income from unemployment coming in each month.  It may not pay what they would like, but they prefer it to doing something they prefer not to do.  So, something that can be a good thing can become an enabler for the opposite effect. No black and white here.  And so it goes with most issues, so I remain on the middle of the fence and decide which way I will jump as the wind blows.

Winter in Florida?

Winter in Florida is an oxymoron, but to go by the evidence in the stores, it be lies that fact. Sure this morning was in the 40's and a bit chilly during the first part of my run.  But by the first mile I was shedding both my jacket and gloves.  And during the day it warms up to 70's.  Now that is not "winter".  Montana's weather of below zero on a bad day and high 40's on a good day is winter.  Minnesota, with several feet of snow for months on end, now that is winter.

The problem is that in Florida the stores have the idea that it is winter here.  You ask for outdoor games and activities to buy and they say, "We put them all away for the winter."  What, people don't go outdoors in 70 degree weather?  Grand kids come here this time of year and, of course all grandparents are looking for games to occupy the little darlings outdoors as much as possible.  But, I guess venders don't relate to this situation like the retired residents here do. So far, I haven't been able to convince them that this is not "winter" as we northerners know it from years of previously living in the real thing.

I had great news from one of my daughters yesterday.  Back ground: she had not been able to work at her former job, due to the painful stress on her back from the tasks she was required to perform. She has been going to school to complete a degree, providing a less physically demanding career, but she also needs to work.  Other avenues for help had closed for her and she was very discouraged, to say the least. This kept her awake at night with worry so she resorted to praying most of the night for an answer.  When she woke up in the morning she had a message that the local YWCA wanted to hire her as their manager. How awesome is that?  So you may ask,"Do I believe in the power of prayer?" Yes, I do.  All we need to do is ask and have the faith that God will indeed provide.  Maybe not what we necessarily ask for, but He does know our needs. Anyway, I have said a return prayer of thanks.  We always need to say thank you and count our blessings.  There are a lot more than we realize.