There is no sunspot activity at this time -- if you all need something to worry about here is my candidate -- sunspot activity plays a very important role in earth's weather . The  Little Ice Age (1300 - 1850 ) had a minimum of sunspot activity during the worse of it.

While science is still debating the importance of the Maunder minimum to the little ice age I have read statements that it absolutely DID have an effect and that extreme sunspot activity also occurs during hot spells here on earth--- so , I suspect the sun has a great deal to do with Earth's weather, what about you all ?   --- so would you all rather freeze then burn ? I'm still debating but I think I would rather do neither.

Just because... Leon saw some horror pictures of what happens to people that have motorcycle accidents without protective clothing and he says I am not riding until I get my leathers...
The jacket is on hold -- though with this cool summer we are having I may sew it, anyway.   He is more than likely right so I yielded to his superior wisdom and insight -- actually, I debated a little further but I did not have anything like a reasonable weapon; saying I Just WANT to ride the bike did not exactly sound like a grown-up thing to say.

Its going to rain this weekend... starting tonight... Well, Happy Fourth of July, folks !! I will be doing inside things and absolutely no outside cooking unless NOAA is wrong - Once again!

OH -- for those of you who have clear skies ... look towards the west at sundown on the Fourth ... you will see a very spectacular sight - Saturn, Mars (Regulus) and the Moon are pretty much lined up (alignment)    as pretty as they can be... that's in Leo (Regulus is Leo's brightest star!)  for all you who slept through astronomy class.  Not sure what that might imply for all you astrologers but I tend to love sky watching for its own sake. I will take a peek if NOAA proves to be wrong about the weather. (PLEASE, Oh, God let them be wrong!!!!!!)

As an American Italian,  I thank our founders for my freedom and rights ... Long live the USA, and many blessings on all Americans of all colors and sizes  !!!!!!

When did science become a dogma? When did it become dogmatic? When did our scientists become political prophets demanding repentance?
Science is about data. Give us the data. Then give us several different interpretations of that data and let us listen to the debate that ensues. That is what science is supposed to be !!!!

Ice on Mars? Well, well well - won't have to bring our own ice to the first 4th of July on Mars colony I - good news, folks !! (oh, please let it be ice!)
Computer glitches on the other hand - oh, great ! and not one geek within a million miles.

Well, isn't that just a hoot? From 1300 AD to about 1850 AD the planet was in a little ice age. It was a bad time had by all- the first thing was that came was years without summers, next, starvation, third - epidemics, 4th? the Plague in 1348... People fear warming but I do not. I fear cooling. Warming will just redistribute rain and weather. Cooling will create a crisis in food production and health concerns that will be nightmares.It will force us to burn more fossil fuels.
READ about "the Little Ice Age".

I have a suggestion for Mr. Turner, if he is so concerned about the future of earth, I will sell my house to him for its fair market value. He can take up my lifestyle after I show him the ropes (Like recycling.) : can any of these rich, spoiled, self-righteous liberal media types ever admit they preach, preach & preach to the rest of us but live like the kings & queens of old?

A great deal of this list has less to do with adding Co2 to the atmosphere and more being just a good, conscientious person in the 21^st. century and many reflect other desirable results, less pollution of table water, less waste in landfills etc. Living a simpler, kinder life.

1. Recycle everything you are able : cans, glass, paper, newspaper, garden waste, tree limbs, (no flocking) Christmas trees. Contact your waste and garbage disposal company. In my locality they supply large plastic containers for this purpose.

2. We make the cutting up of tree limbs fun, doing it together. Also, we cut up any boxes, together. Make it fun.

3. Make sure you know the rules and post them in your kitchen. Things to look for : which plastics are recyclable, they vary. Some examples of rules : anything with food still on it. (example: Pizza cardboard boxes) Broken bottles. Check the website of your recyclers every so often for news, recently the changed the rules on shredded paper in my locality.

4.On the bottom of most modern plastics you will see a symbol that looks like a triangle with a number or a set of letters or both - check which ones are recycled and check everything you use to see which ones can be and which can't.

5. I wash all cans and bottles when I wash dishes and throw them in plastic bags which I later place in the containers outside.

6. If your locality do not recycle garden waste and tree limbs, check around. There may be private companies that recycle garden waste which they grind into mulches and fertilizers. {Recently kitchen wastes were added to this list.}

7. You can start your own recycling of green waste, vegetables, grass clippings etc. by setting up a compost heap. There are plenty of books about this subject. I used to keep one going but I haven't gardened for awhile.

8. Large items such as TVs & monitors (traditional kinds have lead shields), refrigerators (has damaging chemical), Computer hardware, car oil, hazardous chemicals and paints should be recycled. Again, check with your local disposal company, first and then look for local private companies. Be willing to pay a few dollars if you use a private company. Even my local disposal company charges something for larger items when they have one of their special recycling events.

9. Computer hardware presents a special problem. We have had problems in the past finding a reasonable way to recycle them. Check with friends, your Church, local schools, even the library. Make sure, if you do give the computer away, to reformat the disk with a program that fills the memory with ones and twos so no private information is available to others. Check on the net for such programs, I believe they are usually free.

10. I do a lot of crafts. I use old bottles for my herb rack and for my homemade bath salts and teas and various other crafts. I recycle yarn from old wool sweaters. Use old blue jeans to make bags and other things. Investigate quilting. I look for ways to have second, third and even fourth uses for things. Don't demand the most recent fashions. Wear clothes until they begin to fall apart and then look for ways to recycle them. Make your own rugs.

<<< Always follow the instructions of your recyclers or things may just bounce back>>>>

Other Notes :

prepared dinners, fast food containers and frozen dinners are not good for the environment and should be used only in emergencies--- Their plastics cannot be recycled because they have too much food waste so they end up in landfills.

Repeat: Make recycling one of your habits and hobbies. Educate yourself about your local opportunities. Call city hall and your disposal company if you have any questions. Even the library may be able to help you. Be willing to take the time. I suspect I spend an average of 3 hours a week, sometimes more.

As far as I know Good Will and Salvation Army are countrywide organizations but there are also a lot of small charities,also. Contribute any machine that still runs, clothes you don't want and just about anything else that takes up space and has outlasted its usefulness. Videos, DVDs, CDs are also good things to contribute. Craft supplies... well, you get the point. It hardly needs to be observed that your 'junk' may be someone else's treasure. Check with the charity before hand about their limits and rules. I seem to remember that neither takes computer hardware but accepts software.

The traditional American "Garage sale" is an alternative and makes you money. I've never had one but I would think they are great fun. Also: libraries are an excellent way to recycle books, videos, DVDs and magazines. We contribute to ours often. Most libraries will sell what they add their collections so please check!

Offer things to friends when you don't  want them any longer. I sent friends my old videos as we switched to DVDs.  Don't be shy but be honest and Don't wrap them up as gifts. (Bilbo Baggins would certainly approve of your mathoms!) Also, offer extra things you don't want when young people etc. are getting their first house.

Motor oil: never, never pour it down a drain. Check your local auto shops of various kinds and repair shops to see if any of them will accept your used motor oil, also check see if your locality offers hazardous waste recycling and some auto stores (the kind that sell oil, filters and the such) allow you to recycle oil at there.) so call around and find the ones that do.

I wanted to make a very clear list of everything I know about this subject. I have been doing all this for a long time and it comes naturally. Its just the way I run the house.

It is my opinion that if you are a good housewife you will do everything to make sure your house runs smoothly and that you save money. This is my intention with this list. I do these things not only for Mother Earth but to save money and to make things better for us. :

                   Two really weird things I am considering doing this year - make cloth bags for Christmas gifts. I love the look of Christmas gifts and the glitter, ribbons etc, but the paper  isn't good for the enviroment and the paper they say that is, doesn't do a thing for me... what about making bags? I could even put beads on them and use them for multiple years... been thinking about this for a long time and I think I will this year.

Learning to paint and draw so I could decorate and embellish with more skill, all manner of things has been on my mind, also for a long time.

                  

This is enough for now. As I said before, it's not the most entertaining thing to write about. Don't live a life full of guilt and depression... People like Al Gore are trying to scare you death, don't let them. I left guilt behind in my youth. Do what is right because it is the right thing to do. Live a brave life. Do your best with this information - I tried to make it short sentences so you can take it a piece at a time and adopt what is practical. Not everyone will be able to everything, obviously!!! Don't let fear rule you - Al Gore is blowing this natural event into a big problem, compared to the END of the last ice age, a few degrees one way or other isn't that big of a problem.

Why do old childhood ditties always go through my head when it snows?
"Its snowing, its snowing
the old man is snoring
He went to bed, hit his head
and never got up in the morning!"

Well, it was bound to accumulate a little, today - its been snowing here from very early morning and shows no sign of changing to rain... but it must be warm at ground level, compared to the clouds and isn't making much show on the ground. Its hard to imagine such an unlikely thing. I've been thinking what a hoot it would be if Al Gore & his scientist friends were wrong - what if we weren't going into a warming period but a cooling? The sun is supposed to be in an upswing of its spots but the sun is nearly as clean as a new virgin - a minimum of sunspot activity has always been a sign that an ice age was approaching - do research on the "little Ice Age" if you don't understand this aspect of climate. I am not saying we don't need to watch ourselves and become conservatives in the sense of caring for the Earth, we very much must conserve, recycle and care for our dear mother, the earth Mother Terra - she is the only real mother the human race has - unless you count our beloved Lady Mary, the mother of Jesus. Must love your mothers, friends.
I just don't think environmentalism is a good religion - or any religion - for me, caring for the land, my home, cats, husband and the little bit of land our house stands on just makes good sense -- take responsibility for yourself and what you love and the things, people and animals will last.

I have lost another two pounds - 160, our scales this morning. I am wearing a size 18 Petite down from a size 22-24 petite.

I am writing ... its doing strange things to my head. I feel like the energy in my head is going to explode. I don't know what I mean - Just "BOOM" Its like a dam breaking in my head. I have forgotten how much I love writing.. so afraid of offending someone... of saying the wrong thing... of being hurt, persecuted, hated for my words.. and, yet loving writing.. loving the words, the wonderful images flowing through my pen. I am not going to worry any longer about offending anyone - just create, write, love my life and what I can create.

The Organization of the notes is driving me nuts though, the process of organizing them is confusing and challenging me ... so many notes over the years... so much lost, too. I've never been good at organization.  I am just working - trying to find ways of making it a whole fabric. It reminds me a little of beading, actually -- you take all these little things and try to compose a big, beautiful thing from all of them.
I've got to go. Always so much to do - I need to write a little more on this blog, too.
Please take care, everyone. Talk more later.

I wish this was  a better Picture... but, alas. OK, people - get out the sun glasses and the short dresses, the ice tea and the grills,  its global warming time brought to you by the great Northwest !! Wait -- wait, wait... "Captain, I think we have a problem."

" Dave, I am cold, I am very cold, Dave... Daisy, daisy ... I am co.... l...dddddd, Dave."

Its snowing in the very low lands of the Northwest. I guess we will have put off our global warming show for another day ! Its March 26th. The flowers are blooming and its still snowing and its not even night. And yes, I am writing this and its still snowing.
Maybe the weather is more complicated than any computer program, mind you, the climate.
I will believe in global warming when they can get my weather right two days in a row. How's that for obstinacy?

Too darn good not to post.. why our brains go nuts when we see food while we are dieting or fasting. as in hungry. We all know the response, but now science describes it. With me its chocolate. Or Tomato sauce... oh, heaven.

Well, well - I've been using cloth bags for decades because of the hysteria about them - now? no threat, move on, folks. I will probably still use them, because they are kinder to my hands when walking but heck, folks, get the science right, please!

This one is way too interesting to be ignored - well, surprise, surprise - what we have all known our entire lives, science now explains ... why does science bother with answering the questions that no one asks? We all know what flu season is...  We spend a lot of the winter either dreading the Flu, living through the Flu or recovering from the Flu, don't we?  A couple of years ago I was sick all of a January with the Flu. All of it. Didn't start feeling better until February. I don't know how others fare but I have spent way too many Thanksgivings, Anniversaries (mine is December 20th.) and Christmases totally and utterly miserable. So, a scientific and logical reason  for Flu's preference for the holidays?
Oh, yes, people, there is !  The raw Science behind miserable, sick holidays.

If you have never read about the 1918 flu epidemic (called the Spanish Flu by the people of the time.) I suggest you do so, but read it with the lights ON. Its pretty horrific. It is one of those times you will be glad you missed - just under the Rape of Nanking and the winter of 1348.
 My own parents lived through it - my dad being born in 1910 and my mom in 1913,  but both were so young they did not understand it.
If you don't know anything ... here is a thumb nail from the top of my very cute Italian head :
At the height of the 1st. World War - just as America entered the war and millions of American men were entering the armed forces, a Flu strain appeared. The first American outbreak was in an army camp in Kansas, I believe. The men - all young and strong began to die like fleas on the back of a dog treated with flea soap. The flu may have had several names back then but it was no more a surprise then than it is now, but this strain was the very worse in a 100 years, perhaps more. It spread quickly, of course, men were traveling towards Europe and reaching Europe... It was world wide. It favored everyone but it seemed worse for the very young and the very strong. Men and women were literally dropping dead as they left their homes for work. It killed millions because it was so virulent. It wasn't the flu, itself, that usually killed the victims of the 1918 Flu pandemic. It was the pneumonia that followed the flu almost every time. It was very deep in the lungs, it was still nearly untreatable, and it killed quickly and very efficiently. It was an awful end for the those victims, but it could also be a very sudden death. They literally drowned in their own fluids.
The pandemic more or less ended WWI as soldiers on both sides of the front lines, died. The trenches of the First World War were a perfect place to breed this strain of the Flu. Modern Science has been obsessed with the 1918 flu pandemic because it was a grand test of the science of the time (Just when modern medicine was being born in the labs both in America and Europe.)  and science scored a big fat '0'. They have found samples of lung tissue from soldiers of the time and they have even dug up victims buried in the frozen tundra of Alaska to search for information on the Flu strain that killed so many... They have identified it and cataloged it - but they never defeated the beast. The beast defeated science. If you want to read more about this I suggest the library : key words : 1918 pandemic, epidemiology, epidemics, Spanish Flu. Also, the net offers some information, of course... though, I always suggest books if you want to really understand a subject !
Wiki's 
PBS
 http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/
CDC
There have also been some documentaries on the subject but they won't give much more than I just did - there was  one on the 'American Experience' a while back that will send shivers up your back but won't add to your wealth of knowledge, to any great extent. I do suggest you watch it as an introduction, though.
On a different subject : My honey got home so late last night from Boeing I made him homemade biscuits and soup. I am making soup now because I found out that many canned soups have Sugar in them. I have no idea how many calories dinner had but I had only 1-1/2 biscuits, a little margarine and a 1/2 cup of soup. I think the only thing that truly drives me crazy about dieting is the doubt when I eat - the number of calories, the proper portions, that sort of thing.
 

I found just some small articles about the subject. One was a kid's book! There are several examples of the miniature mammoths. (I think the proper semi-technical word is "pygmy")
Evidence has been found in the northern Islands. (Wrangel(l) island belongs to Russia.) and some islands off of California - I read one mention that suggested even some in the Mediterranean area. Why am I making such  big thing about these relatively little fur balls? The end of the Holocene age was not as abrupt or as devastating as extinction event that killed off dinosaurs - for one thing, no major asteroids visits occurred (there were several minor ones near this period including the ones in South Carolina.) But nothing major. Many important species did survive it - including us. It was actually good news for the planet - After many centuries of long ice ages and interglacialal periods we were finally tending towards warmer, wetter weather.

 Mammoths didn't die off completely - they survived as pygmies on islands (protected habitat no major predators but not a lot of food.) until 1700 B.C. (even later than I thought.)

This is a direct quote from Wikipedia - most of what I found was rather a short mention & explanation - this one was at the bottom of an article about miniature/pygmy elephants.

Wrangel Island

During the last ice age, woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. It has been shown that mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until 1700 B.C.E., the most recent survival of any known mammoth population. Wrangel Island is thought to have become separated from the mainland by 12,000 years BP. Survival of a mammoth population may be explained by local topography and climatic features, which permitted relictual preservation of communities of steppe plants. Wrangel Island mammoths ranged from 180-230 cm in shoulder height and were for a time considered "dwarf mammoths".^[6] However this classification has been re-evaluated and since the Second International Mammoth Conference in 1999, these mammoths are no longer considered to be true "dwarf mammoths".^[7]

***************
And yep, they are still debating whether they were dwarf mammoths. Well, they were shorter, weighted less.. etc. Did you all know that I am the size of dwarf human being ? I am 4ft. 9 inches.... well, within the range... only problem is I am not a true dwarf. I am just short. Very short. Came by it honestly, too. My grandma Rosa was 4'-6"
What I am suggesting is this : Animals, including us need three things to survive :
1.Decent temperatures, climate - I would add that this varies greatly species wise. We love 70 degrees. A crocodile likes it steamy and hot. Polar Bears can die in hot weather.
2.Food sources good and plentiful
3.No major asteroid strikes/ volcanic explosions - relatively stable & safe living conditions.

When things get bad :
1.Luck favors the small - they can run and hide. Wait out the fire storm/flood/drought (whatever).
Mr. TRex couldn't  hide in a burrow while the fire falls from the sky. Mr. proto-rat could and did.
2. High populations are very good - small populations are very bad.The more of you the better chance that just a few will survive. The larger animals always have smaller populations than the little guys. This is simply a calorie management problem. Big implies needing more food. (read about T-Rexs' or the sauropods' eating habits.)
              Note: I remember hearing that predator populations, whether they are mammals or dinosaurs or even reptiles are always smaller, naturally than herbivores. Check this one out?
3. Sometimes species make it through a crisis/extinction event which make little sense... Robert Bakker made a big issue out of the reptile species that survived the end of the mesozoic age, suggesting the asteroid strike wasn't as major as most people assume..
4.We can't know which species would  survive a modern asteroid strike. It matters how big the rock was, whether any of us knew it was coming, where it hit, how much force it struck with - (I remember reading that a rock asteroid and a comet exert different amounts of force. Check this out?)
5. Dean is right - to a degree. I don't know any one reason why dinosaurs or dinosaur-like creatures couldn't come into being/evolve once again - It would mean a complete restart - with only a few small reptile species surviving the otherwise complete striping of the tree of life.  I would suggest it would be unlikely - something so devastating would more or less destroy life on earth. They wouldn't be facing our ancestors the proto-mammals who were (I understand) all large slow moving creatures at the end of the Permian. I understand scientists don't even know if they gave live birth to their off-spring or had fur. They would be facing true, small, fast moving, fast breeding, warm blooded, fur bearing mammals. Remember the birds and their eggs. Dinosaurs had eggs and would have eggs, also.
 Rats + eggs = dinner for the rats.
Well I gota go. Duty calls, dear friends. Have a great day.
This is way too much fun!

Something to pray about... God, Europe is delicate compared the USA! We get 60 MPH winds, yeah, the electricity goes out but we don't flood - when the winds are 50 MPH we are relieved (last windstorm was like that.)! This is no hurricane but it sounds like it's going to be a nasty night in England & the Europe mainland.

I have been paying attention to environmental subjects since I was a teenager. I've known about global issues since the 1967 or so, therefore. Suddenly, everyone is talking about it. There are at least 10 environmental magazines at the local bookstore. The politicians are threating all of us with draconian measures to ease US Co2 emissions. Also, kids are coming home crying about the end times for the human race and the death of the polar bears. They will be as traumatized as my generation was about the possibility of nuclear war. This saddens me because I remember the nightmares I had for many years of a Russian Nuke attack. This generation will suffer from fears instilled by Al Gore's film and this social phenomenon event for many years, even into adulthood.
As I grew into a mature woman I bought a home with my husband and could make decisions for my home that would effect our own little postage stamp sized piece of earth. I think I make wise decisions: recycling, turning lights off, washing clothes during the late evening, rejecting vacation travel... the list is rather long.
I am also a republican, an individualist and a conservative.
I am surprised by the furor of the last few weeks. I didn't expect it to get this crazy and hysterical...The Media, the politicians and the Internet are all in a uproar that surprises me. Human nature is such that when everyone starts screaming the same words there is usually a riot - either figuratively or literally. But I am surprised that people are getting so emotional, is it just an freak event? It is the kind of emotional passion that breeds irrationality, panic and violence --- and its not healthy!
It reminds me of the emotionalism and hysteria I have read about during the Black Plague. It is the kind of religious fervor that terror causes.
-And, if any of their claims are true - we need rationality more NOW than ever before. We must find ways to keep our technological civilization and keep our climate under control and that is going to take a lot of little sacrifices and some big ones, but, which are which and which will actually have the intended effects? Which will harm or even kill our fellow human beings?
We need to have a long and very rational conversation about these subjects!

What has worried me is that some of the people speaking out (in the media, particularly) seem to mistaken science and rationality ( IE thinking about how to solve a set of problems )... with religion : the irrational belief in what can not be felt or measured. Panic and hysteria are the predominate emotions of the Media, right now.

Science is no replacement for religion and religion should not be a replacement for science. You can not believe in scientists and science. You must try to comprehend or understand the underlying facts and measurements (and their descriptions of their findings) so you can make wise decisions in your life but science will not give your life meaning.

In human society science is for the facts and the details, explaining the physical realms so we can control and enhance natural, physical events. Everything we take for granted today in technology is because of the observations of scientists in the last 400 years.
Religion gives us meaning and understanding. It gives us something to love and care for, something to live for. It is by its very nature, beyond facts and rationality.

The reasons I am not going nuts right now : (as so many are doing)
1. This isn't a big surprise and I am totally convinced that It is just the price we pay for a technological civilization. I refuse to go back to the Middle Ages! So I will just live with global warming.
2. I am keeping my emotions at bay and asking questions.
3. I know how to solve problems and how to change my habits when I need to so I am not afraid of the future.
4. I trust the human race. We will change, invent new technologies, find ways to live with the changes.
5. I think this is just another warm phase (called an optimum) before things go towards the next ice age. After reading a lot about the climate I still believe the sun's activity has a lot more to do with our weather than anything we do.
So this is my challenge to you : examine the facts. If you are convinced that we are facing some sort of tragic event really change your habits in every possible way. Don't get emotional or scared. Move towards changing things for the better.

I do not hide my conservative philosophy nor my Gnostic beliefs and neither do I hide that I live a frugal life. Oddly, being frugal (my husband says cheap ) happens to be, also, often environmentally wise. I thought I would share some my thoughts on how to live in harmony with the environment and in the 21st century at the same time. I do not have the liberal fascination with the past - the past was a hard, painful place to live. I like technology.

Our house is only 1000 sq. feet. It is a small house. We have gas heat and burn wood only when we must, 1 toilet. The first step in both frugality and environmentalism is to have a smaller foot print on the earth, the first step is not to own a large house that demands more energy to heat, more water, more of everything.

We do not use chemicals on our lawn - the weeds grow happily, which makes the birds happy. I mow during the spring but I allow the lawn to die in the dry summer. It saves the effort of mowing and the lawn mower pollutes. I do water my herbs, flowers and roses. I use no chemicals on my herbs and flowers but I do use some on my roses. Recycle yard waste and broken limbs. Look in the telephone book or here on the web for local recyclers, or, if you are lucky, the same people who pick up your garbage will also pick up yard waste. Do not burn yard waste; it may be illegal and it pollutes the air.

I work at home. This saves an immense amount of money. I do not spend money on my hair, clothes or on a second car. My clothes are either handmade or bought at Walmart and sometimes, T.J. Maxx. - My 'style' is American typical ! I never buy fabrics or yarns that can not be washed. Dry cleaning is not only bad for the environment, it is an expense that is mostly unnecessary.

We have only one vehicle which my husband drives, a 250 Ford truck. Owning such a truck enables us to save money shopping at Costco, buying large amounts of certain supplies. (which is also good for the environment. ) I do not drive. (never quite got the hang of driving, I like day dreaming too much.) He uses it to go to work. We use it for chores, shopping far from home and for one pleasure trip a week, on Saturday morning, usually to go out to lunch. I usally only see the inside of the truck ONCE a Week ! We run all our errands at once, consolidating all of them, and then park the truck.

We do not go on vacations. Again, this is to save money but it is also environmentally wise. We go out to lunch, make meals at home, 'hang around' and enjoy each other's company. Our vacations rarely cost more than 300 dollars. I see no reason for vacations and I love being home with my husband and cats. I do my crafts and enjoy life.

We have been using the compact fluorescent light bulbs for many years, since they first came out ! They are less expensive to use and last a very long time. I just threw out our first generation of bulbs 2 years ago. Try them, you may find you like them better than the traditional ones. Try the Ott light if you do crafts and needlework, they are wonderful. The L.E.D. bulbs are still very expensive and not practical because of cost, quite yet. I suggest keeping an eye on their price and trying them when you find them on sale. We already are using them for our Christmas decorations but I am not quite fond of their cool colors and dull luminosity. I love a tree bathed in the warmth of the mini lights of the past. I may experiment with mixing the two kinds in the future. They are very cheap to use (after the original cost) and they will improve as all technology does, this also saves energy.

Christmas note: do not use colored flocking. Natural trees are the best, Recycle them with the season is over. Recycle your wreathe, also. You may want to make your decorations, so many are badly made imports that are made in China. I have used recyclable gift wrapping paper over the years but to be honest, I like the glossy kind that can not be recycled.

Wash your clothes and dry clothes in the late evening and the very early day. This prevents the need to build more power plants. Peek time for energy is in the mid morning and early evening when people are cooking dinner.

Home cooking is not only tastier, it is less expensive and is, also, better for the environment , and better for the family. Prepared foods fill our land fills with waste plastics. I personally LOVE cooking and it is a great hobby. Eat LESS meat and less take out.

We turn the temperature of the house down during the day and in the late evening - usually to 60 degrees.

We walk everyday, at least a half hour - its for our health and I joke that our doctor gave us the choice to walk or die, so we chose walking but it is also a very environmentally friendly thing to do. We walk to the local stores, the library and some of the local restaurants. We buy fresh vegetables and meat every day at the local grocery stores. Anything that we can carry and is sold near by we usually make a walking chore.

My husband owns a motorcycle - a Harley. He uses it to go to work in the summertime. It saves money and GAS to do so.

A lot of Crafts also save money and are environmentally friendly. Recycle everything you can, Not only the usual paper, cans and glass recycling. Save glass containers and use them for candles and (use the right kind of wax!) storing kitchen, craft and sewing supplies. Send clothes you don't use to Good Will or the Salvation Army. Find out if your local authorities offer recycling depots for large appliances and wood. Look in the telephone book or on line to recycle computer hardware. Give books to the library when they are no longer wanted, they either sell them or add them to their collections.
So why do I choose this kind of life, frugal, simple, conservative ? It is because I believe that materialism of all kinds is wrong-minded. Frugality is another name for saving money. The money is being invested in our retirement funds. So many today seem to think that a bigger house, more things, indoor pools and the rest will make them happy. It isn't true. Possessions and wealth will never bring true happiness. Happiness comes when I live a meaningful life. Service to others, Love, friendship, kindness, simplicity, lack of desires (a hard thing to achieve!) and creativity.
Although, friends, I would really, really like a bit more space and a second toilet !
So any and all who read this ... think about my words and see if you can include these ideas into your life.
I apologize for all the smiley faces. Just noticed them and I thought I would add them !