The French

I was on CrackBook the other day and an old college chum of mine had posted something about water restrictions and how the dirt around their house was separated 2 inches from the foundation.  Then, one of their friends posted that their water bill was 300 (THREE HUNDRED!!) dollars higher than normal, but they have 1/2 an acre of grass to keep green and that it was cheaper to keep it green than to resod the whole yard.

This frustrates me to no end.  We are in 'Extreme Drought Conditions' you daffy cow!  What right do you have to keep 1/2 acre of GRASS green so that you can have a pretty yard?  This whole idea of having a yard solely dedicated to grass is silly to me anyway.  I've kept my trees alive and watered the foundation with a soaker hose, but my 'grass' is a lovely shade of yellow.

The french aristocracy are the ones that originated this whole idea of having acres of nothing but grass to prove that they were too rich to soil their hands with any kind of farming.  You see how well that worked out for them.

All or Nothing

It was pointed out to me yesterday that I am an all or nothing person.  I agree with that remark.  But I am trying to teach myself moderation.  For example, we have been a no TV family in the past, now we have 1 TV which I police pretty strictly.  TV time was very rare except for the times that it wasn't.  My kids would  go weeks with out watching TV and then for a few days they might get 6+ hours a day.  So, I'm trying to let them watch 1 hour of TV a day-if their room is clean.  I've done this for 3 weeks now and it seems to be going well.  Now, if I get pestered about it they don't get it.

I am this way about many things, but food especially I think.  It is best to not keep potato chips in the house because I can eat a whole bag of the suckers.  I try to stay away from soda because it's a trigger food for me-I have a soda and then it opens all sorts of craving pathways in my brain.  I think I've found a pretty good solution to the potato chip conundrum...pop corn!  It's salty, it's crunchy, and you can have a ton of pop corn vs. a handful of chips.  Who wants to stop at a handful?  Which brings us back to moderation.

1 Down

It's happened.  When I got 4 chickens back in April, I thought that this way I'd still have 2 or 3 if I lost any of them to babychickitis.  Today we lost a chicken.  She was in the middle of the coup, stiff, with eyes clouded over.  It was one of the white ones.  Either Peeps Lafeet or Lucy.  I sent the boys out after dinner to give them water and food and even though they still had food and water she was dead.  I think it's this blasted heat. A friend lost 2 chickens the other day as well.  Liam discovered her, had a good cry about it, and was consoled.  I am sad as well but I know that we take good care of them and we just can't control the heat.  We have no trees in our yard so they spend the heat of the day panting in the coop anyway.

Water Conservation

All the traffic flashy type signs say 'Conserve Water-Extreme Drought Conditions'-At least around here.

In general, I think that our family does small things that do conserve water.  For example, when we brush our teeth, we turn the water on to wet the tooth brush, turn the water off, and then back on to rinse mouths and tooth brushes.  Ray and I have a shower head that uses less water and has a cool function to reduce the flow to almost nothing-so that when you are washing your hair or body you don't waste all that water.  The boys have a similar shower head that uses less water, but doesn't have that cool low flow option.  

When I shave my legs, I do not run the water in the shower.  I keep a big cup in the shower, fill it with water during my shower, and when I'm done getting clean I turn off the water.  Then, I take a dab of hair conditioner, put it on the bits that need a shave, and use the water in the big cup to keep the razor clean.  Risking TMI territory-I am a hairy girl, and this is the way that I have shaved for 2 years-and it works just fine.  The conditioner has the added bonus of acting as a moisturizer-just rub in whatever the razor leaves behind and you have nice smooth legs.  The past 2 winters I have not gotten dry legs like I had in before I started this method.

Also, risking more TMI-ahem.  'If it's yellow, let it mellow.  If it's brown,  flush it down.' (ew, I can't believe I just said that.)

I just read a way to wash hair less often.  Take a cotton ball, soak it in witch hazel, and rub it on your scalp.  This helps to soak up the oils on your head.  Then the article says to blow dry on cool, but I bet you could get away with air drying.  I will try this when it cools off.  Right now, I get sweaty enough that I have to wash twice a week.

I am working on a project right now out in the yard.  I REFUSE to water my grass, but it has gotten so very dry here that I have finally put a soaker hose out around the house.  I'm working on sheet mulching the entire perimeter of the house.  I have gotten the back yard done and about 10 feet in the front yard.  The cool thing is that I had enough soaker hose to snake it in the blackberries and strawberries-so that's 2 beds that I don't have to hand water any more.  The sheet mulching will keep the water where I want it to be-in the ground not in the air.

Yesterday I found 2 fire ant beds along the front side of the house.  I tell you what!  Nothing makes me scream like a girl and stop yard work like putting my hand in a fire ant bed.  I need to get orange oil to take care of the suckers, but Lowe's was out of it.  Dilute a little orange oil, pour it on the fire ant bed, and they come streaming out, exoskeletons melting off.  It'll kill the bed in about ten minutes.

Texas fire ants are not to be confused with Vermont fire ants that are just toucans in disguise.