water from your tap...

everyone I know (and many that I don't) are being encouraged to obtain a Royal Berkey water purification system. Hexavalent chromium has been found in the drinking water supplies of 31 of the 35 cities tested. This is the chemical that made Erin Brockovich's career. This potentially carcinogenic chemical is in the water. The black Berkey water filter will remove up to 95% of chromium from the water. This is a purifier not a filter system really and for most of us there is a economy model that works just wonderfully. (no I don't sell them... but I am a fan)

Please take care of yourselves out there. The fresh water systems are being treated dreadfully and we are all going to feel the results.

Hexavalent chromium (remember Erin Brockovich?) has been

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/possible-cancer-causing-chemical-found-in-31-of-35-u-s-cities-tested/

just something from the news that I want to pass on...

fresh water is going to be increasingly rare. That the water in many places will light on fire (possibly exploding your home in the process) should concern us all.

http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4412:forget-dont-drink-the-water&catid=1:static&Itemid=373

Some day...

I will have enough discipline to get this posted at least weekly. Until then I will just keep trying.

When my daughter Heather was born these old walnut trees were huge. I found a picture of my Grandfather (William Ivy Shattuck) and my sister (Jill (Shattuck) Stafford from a time when the trees were little. The sun porch that I knew had not even been built in this photograph.

ummm... seems to be an issue with the image button. I will try again later.

deep shade

This is a spot between the fence, the Wendy house, and the patio in the courtyard.

The hosta and rhododendron are in ground and will be mulched heavily in a week or two.

The pots are houseplants waiting to be repotted for the long winter wait.

It is not so bad...

I am trying to keep up with posting and shouldn't be so hard on myself about it perhaps.
Composting, unpacking, garden, unpack, walk the dogs, unpack... it is starting to look like a mantra!
Slowly there is a bit more unpacked and put away. Less stressing about it all.
This seems to be a good way to do it.
Yesterday I got about 16 inches of hair cut off, and gave some to the locks of love. Not all because they don't take hair that has had color on it. Next time I know this and more will go where it is needed.
Pictures will be posted tomorrow because my sister is coming to help with my technical issues.
I am trying to not focus to much on a conversation I had that all boiled down to we live in an age of extinction that has been equaled only by the dinosaur die off... depressed the snot out of me. I can sit around and cry or I can do what I can to make it all better. I don't know what to do other than what I am already doing. Recycle, conserve water, garden, compost, walk, use the bus, or a car pool... any ideas gratefully accepted.

Stronger...

maybe. I am walking the dogs up to four times a day now.
We have moved to a much smaller house and I am happier about it. Though I am still living in box hell, but I am seeing improvement. My little house is right at 100 years old, so the electric in here is a worry. The roof in the garage leaks, but the holes in the fence are repaired.
I have planted a few veg around the yard as a start on the garden. Fall gardening has been planned but I have not started it yet. I am thinking of putting in some straw bales as a raised bed. The composter is cooking happily along. The yard is coming out of the poor state of neglect that it was in. Life looks much better to me.
There are a couple of issues with the house, there is no back up heating system. There is no gravity fed water collection system. These things can all be fixed.

Don't forget that a penny saved is a penny earned... only if you do not spend it on something else.

Due to a worsening of the MS symptoms

I was not paying much attention to life in general. I am feeling better and think that I am going to give the blogging another go. I have relocated to Boulder Colorado and find I am content even though I no longer have my own yard right now. So ... gardening will be indoors and container.
Water is still something I am worried about, more so perhaps with the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. That they are pouring toxic chemicals into the water to keep the oil emulsified, there will be almost permanent damage done I fear.
This will not go away in my lifetime.
How sad is that.

no pic

Though I am getting back online again. It is somewhere between rain and snow outside. It makes me think of a story I heard on NPR the other day. That Saint Louis, Mo. is using some of the cave system to divert storm water as a natural flood drain. What is it that they think they are doing to the relatively closed ecosystem that is a cave. These places take thousands of years to develop and they are flushing flood water through that is carrying goodness knows what through them. I am pretty well disgusted.